The Biden Administration has extended the Covid public health emergency through January 11th, but President Biden has recently admitted that the Covid pandemic is over.
In January of 2020, the Trump Administration declared a public health emergency when the spread of Covid was rampant. Since then, the public health emergency declaration must be renewed every 90 days. The emergency declaration has a major impact on the health care system, allowing hospitals to become more streamlined and public health insurance remain available.
This past September, President Biden during a television interview said “the pandemic is over” but admitted Covid will continue to remain. The CDC recently said Americans have a high immunity level due to vaccines and treatment methods.
Hospitals and pharmacies have called for the emergency declaration to remain in place until Americans sustain a period of low transmission. However, the fall and winter period we have seen a rise in Covid cases which could cause a surge to the hospital system.
Dr. Fauci has called Biden’s comments on Covid “problematic” and reiterated “it’s obvious that could be problematic because people would interpret it as it’s completely over and we’re done for good, which is not the case — no doubt about that.”
The HHS Secretary, Xavier Becerra, has stated he would notify all the states if and when the emergency declaration would be lifted with 60 days prior notice. If we were to see a change in Covid policy, we would then see a notification in November which would detail plans to lift the emergency order in January.
Many public health officials are concerned about a surge this upcoming holiday season due to easier indoor transmissibility but a continued emergency declaration may end as we live with the virus.