The pandemic is ending but the virus isn’t gone
The day many of us have been waiting for since the latter part of 2020 will soon arrive. Well, soonish — we will have to wait until May 11. That’s the day that COVID-19 emergency declarations will end.
After nearly three years of sweeping pandemic measures to curb the spread of the illness, the country will finally be out of the pandemic phase.
That doesn’t mean the virus is gone, though. It just means that it’s somewhat contained, but still prone to spikes and outbreaks, yet not causing significant disruption to our daily lives.
The COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency declarations were put in place by then-president Donald Trump. However, since then, President Joe Biden has repeatedly extended the measures, which allow millions of
Americans to receive free treat- ments, tests and vaccines.
According to a Reuters report, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget said in a statement that the declarations, which were set to expire in the coming months, would be extended again until May 11, then terminated.
“This wind-down would align with the Administration’s previous commitments to give at least 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the PHE,” OMB said in an administrative policy statement, according to Reuters.
The government has been paying for COVID-19 vaccines, certain treatments and some tests under the PHE declaration. When it expires, those costs will be transferred to private insurance and government health plans, the report said.
Despite the end of the emergency
declarations, more than 500 people continue to die each day from the disease, according to government data.
In Los Angeles County, cases continue to be documented through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
As of Jan. 31, there were 701 new COVID cases in the county, 17 deaths and 705 hospitalizations. The positivity rate was at 5.6%.
Those numbers were up from the previous day, when there were 383 new cases, nine deaths, 674 hospitalizations and a 5.2% positivity rate.
For now, free testing and treatment is still available in the county, but will likely end on May 11.
Even though we are moving out of the pandemic phase and the government will no longer assist with testing, treatment and vaccination costs, the virus is still here. It may not be spreading like it once did and killing as many, but it’s not yet gone.
It’s also not clear what will happen at this point with vaccinations.
The Food and Drug Administration, on Thursday, raised doubts about shifting to a yearly COVID booster for most children and adults, saying there are too many questions about the virus that remain unanswered.
On Jan. 23, the agency published briefing documents proposing the annual shots that target the latest variants of the virus, similar to the annual flu shot.
However, during Thursday’s meeting, several members of the committee said they felt apprehensive about making any decisions about when the vaccines are administered, given that the virus is still so new, according to a news report. Unlike the flu, COVID’s spread has often been erratic, with the virus consistently mutating into new variants and failing to settle into a predictable seasonal pattern, the report said.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Dr. Eric Rubin, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine said. “It’s hard to say that it is going to be annual at this point.”
So far, the virus has been anything but predictable, so it’s understandable that a yearly vaccine might not be the best solution. But where do we go from here? Not even the scientists seem sure.