Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
It's The Last Day Of The US Covid Health Emergency. Now What?
USA Today: What End Of COVID Health Emergency Means For Tests, Vaccine, Medicaid
While it closes a chapter in history, health experts point out the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over as the virus continues to claim about 1,000 lives each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To date, more than 1.1 million people in the country have died. “There’s no real mechanism to declare an end to the pandemic, but it is an end to the emergency phase, both in the U.S. and globally,” said Crystal Watson, associate professor at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Rodriguez and Alltucker, 5/11)
Reuters: The US COVID Health Emergency Is Ending. What Changes?
The U.S. government on Thursday will end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency that allowed millions of Americans to receive vaccines, tests and treatments at no cost. The emergency is also tied to telehealth flexibilities, Medicaid enrollment safeguards, and the ability of government health agencies to collect data on the spread of the coronavirus. Here is what will change after Thursday, and what does not. (5/10)
AP: As Public Health Emergency Ends, Pandemic-Era Support Programs Have Already Been Fading Away
The formal end of the national Public Health Emergency on Thursday is largely a symbolic and psychological step, representing the country’s formal emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic. But behind the scenes, several core aspects of America’s pandemic-era emergency safety net are also coming to a close, from extra food assistance to automatic re-enrollment in Medicaid. While these measures were always designed to be temporary, their expiration is inevitably producing hardship and confusion. (Khalil, 5/11)
NBC News: How Covid-Related Costs Could Rise As Public Health Emergency Ends
Most people can expect to pay more for Covid tests after the federal public health emergency expires at the end of the day Thursday. The emergency declaration guaranteed widespread access to free Covid-related health services starting in January 2020. (Bendix, 5/10)
Free covid tests will be available through May 31 —
Bloomberg: Free Covid Tests Via USPS Are Available At CovidTests.Gov Until May 31
The popular offering will be available until the end of May, according to a press release this week from the Biden Administration outlining the transition of Covid measures. Since the online portal launched in January 2022, the program has distributed more than 750 million rapid antigen tests to over two-thirds of American households. (Griffin, 5/10)
What other changes are ahead? —
The New York Times: As Covid Emergency Ends, Surveillance Shifts To The Sewers
When the Covid-19 public health emergency expires in the United States on Thursday, the coronavirus will not disappear. But many of the data streams that have helped Americans monitor the virus will go dark. ... But experts who want to keep tabs on the virus will still have one valuable option: sewage. People who are infected with the coronavirus shed the pathogen in their stool, whether or not they take a Covid test or seek medical care, enabling officials to track levels of the virus in communities over time and to watch for the emergence of new variants. (Anthe, 5/11)
Stat: What's Next For Mental Health Apps When Pandemic Flexibilities End?
In April 2020, the Food and Drug Administration announced a pandemic enforcement policy allowing mental health app developers to release certain treatment products without seeking authorization from the agency. With the end of the official public health emergency, companies that did so will now need to submit the products for FDA clearance and have them pass an early stage of review by early November — or remove the products from the market. (Aguilar, 5/11)
Politico: What Title 42's End Means For The Future Of Immigration Policy
The pandemic-era policy used to block migrants at the southern border is coming to an end this week. Lifting so-called Title 42 will mean a major policy shift, one expected to draw an increase of asylum seekers to the U.S. — and scrutiny over how the Biden administration will handle that influx. ... The government has used Title 42 to turn away asylum seekers more than 2 million times for more than three years. But it’s not actually an immigration policy. Section 265 of Title 42 of U.S. Code addresses public health, social welfare and civil rights. In March 2020, the Trump administration ordered the CDC chief to implement the Title 42 authority and turn people away at the border on public health grounds. (Ward, 5/10)
The New York Times: What Does The End Of The Covid Health Emergency Mean For New York City?
The city will keep distributing free home tests at libraries and other locations until its supply from the federal government runs out. The city’s public hospitals and clinics will continue indefinitely to provide low-cost or free care to the estimated 200,000 uninsured people in the city, as it does for other illnesses. “Covid-related health care is going to start looking a lot more like all the other health care we receive, which involves health insurance for people who have it, and turning to our safety-net health care system for people who don’t,” said Rima Oken, director of policy for the New York City Health Department’s disease control division, at a panel hosted last week by the Pandemic Response Institute. (Otterman, 5/10)
