COVID-19 emergency declaration officially over
Vaccines will still be free, but testing will depend on insurance
After three years of lockdowns, social distancing, remote work, mask and vaccine mandates, and travel restrictions, Hawaii officials announced Thursday that the COVID-19 national health emergency declaration is over.
Since March 2020, community members, organizations and businesses have been pivoting and adapting to health and safety protocols that have gradually eased as cases and severity of the virus declined. Over the past year, much of the pandemic-related regulations have been lifted, allowing the counties to find some normalcy again.
By the end, Gov. Josh Green said Thursday during a news conference that the state had the lowest mortality rate in the nation, which he credited to high vaccination rates at 78.7 percent, frontline workers, the Hawaii Safe Travels Program and the community’s effort in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
“Today, I just want to salute all of the health care workers, all the people that sacrificed during the pandemic, extraordinary people at the Department of Health who really put in so many hours to make sure that as few people passed away as possible,” Green said. “During those dark moments, when it was at its worst, when the virus was strongest, they stood fast, so that was an extraordinary thing.”
The announcement means that the world is no longer in a pandemic, but now an endemic, which means “it’s a virus that will be here with us,” he said. The governor said he would be surprised if a statewide lockdown were to happen again.
“I’d say we learned a lot,” Green said. “Also we now as a health care team, health care community, Department of Health developed a lot of extra experience on how we can best suppress the virus and its spread, which is very difficult in that first year when it got to be very prevalent, so I’d be surprised if that happens again.”
While the declaration has expired, Kenny Fink, director of the state Department of Health, said during the news conference on Thursday afternoon that “COVID-19 is not going away.”
“We must remain vigilant for changes to it and for other future threats,” Fink said. “It’s extremely important to invest in public health preparedness.”
With the end of the federal declaration, changes are anticipated, said State Epidemiologist Sarah Kemble. For now, vaccines will still be distributed for free under the federal government to adults and children, but COVID-19 at-home tests may not be covered by insurance anymore — insurance providers will no longer be required to waive costs or provide free tests.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s no-cost COVID-19 testing locator can help folks to find current community and pharmacy partners who are participating in low- or no-cost testing.
Coverage for COVID-19 testing and treatment that is ordered by a health care provider will vary by insurance type. For people with Medicaid coverage, for example, Kemble said that testing and treatment will remain covered at no cost through September 2024.
Without insurance, free tests and treatment may be available at local free clinics or community health centers.
“We are all committed at the DOH to continue working with our federal partners to ensure equitable access to vaccines as we move forward,” Kemble said.
The CDC announced plans last week to scale back the COVID-19 data the agency has been regularly reporting, such as test positivity, largely because states no longer are required to report new cases.
CDC officials noted in a press briefing that they will continue to collect and post information online to track the coronavirus and identify new threats by using “a multitude of metrics,” including the use of COVID hospitalizations and wastewater testing as an indicator of how much the virus is spreading.
“In short, we will still be able to tell that it’s snowing, even though we’re no longer counting every snowflake,” said CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Nirav Shah during the briefing on May 5.
Kemble said Thursday that local Hawaii data and trends will still be available online. The department will also continue response efforts and partner with longterm care facilities, schools and community organizations to provide technical assistance and education on how to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, among many other efforts to track case counts and information on variants.
Mask-wearing remains a personal choice.
“Just remember that people will continue to wear a mask as an everyday prevention measure,” Kemble said. “It is by working together and caring for each other here in this state that we’ve come through the COVID-19 pandemic as well as we have … . Personally, for me, if I’m going through an airport I’m always going to mask — not just because of COVID, but all the other respiratory infections that one could get when traveling.”
Maui County will have no provisions in place following the end of the COVID-19 emergency declaration, communications director Mahina Martin said Thursday night.
“Our community, like so many others around the world, has experienced an unprecedented period of time,” Martin said in an email. “Never could we have imagined the conditions we faced and the incredible effort it would take to navigate our way through it. While an official end to the emergency declaration signals a change, what does not change is the well-deserved recognition for our healthcare professionals, emergency responders, and those who helped others make their way through the historic challenges and deeply uncertain times that these past few years brought.”
Throughout the pandemic, many businesses pivoted and survived. But others weren’t so lucky.
Though it wasn’t easy, Pukalani Superette was proactive in meeting emergency regulations in order to keep groceries and other necessities available to the community, such as monitoring the number of customers entering the 3,000-square-foot store when social distancing and capacity limits were mandated, as well as enforcing mask-wearing and other measures.
“It’s been a journey. Nothing is the same … I don’t even reference sales data from before the pandemic because shopping habits and the supply chain has changed so many times,” store President Megan Nakashima said in an email on Thursday. “As a business, we’re grateful to have survived. We have stories of making it through other large disruptions in the past — hurricanes, dock strikes, etc. — so we’re always cautious about what is to come. Recovery is a long road, but we’re glad to be on it.”
Not a whole lot will change following the declaration’s expiration, Nakashima said. It’s been awhile since the store dropped the mask requirement, for example, and the COVID-19 sick leave benefit for employees was discontinued this year.
The only pandemic-related equipment remaining is the acrylic dividers left at the checkouts.
“We will be keeping those up just because it’s functional (we tape things on there like flyers, notes for cashiers, etc.) and we paid for them, so in true small business form, we will be using them until they fall apart,” Nakashima said. “It is up to community members to decide what level of precaution they want to take. We’ve become more mindful of our own health and how it affects others. We all received this crash course in communicable diseases — if you’re sick, stay home. Maybe don’t visit grandma if you have a cough and fever. Wash your hands.”