WHO Ends Covid Emergency But Warns Virus Is Here To Stay And Is Changing
Emergency responses aren't designed to last forever, and the virus is still circulating. The WHO's director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted the virus is also still evolving. Meanwhile, some health care workers say, “I think it’s pretty obvious that the pandemic was over a year ago.”
The Atlantic:
Only The Global-Health Emergency Has Ended
Emergency responses—being, well, emergency responses—aren’t designed to last forever, and this morning, the World Health Organization declared the one that’s been in place for the COVID-19 pandemic since January 2020 officially done. “This virus is here to stay. It is still killing, and it’s still changing,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said at a press conference; although the coronavirus will continue to pose a threat, the time had simply come, he and his colleagues said, for countries to move away from treating it as a global crisis. (Wu, 8/5)
Stat:
Does End Of Emergencies Mean Covid Pandemic Is Over?
If you have been looking for a sense of pandemic closure, the World Health Organization’s declaration Friday that it was ending the Covid global health emergency was about as close to it as you are likely to get. The reality is that although battlefield metaphors are often employed to describe humankind’s struggle with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, there will be no 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month-like moment signaling that an armistice has been achieved. (Branswell, 5/8)
VOA:
State, Local Agencies In US Prepare For End Of COVID-19 Emergency
“Being in hospitals during the early days of COVID-19 was terrifying, like I was going to war. But as far as I’m concerned, those days are done,” Danielle King, a nurse working in Luling, Louisiana, told VOA.“I think it’s pretty obvious that the pandemic was over a year ago,” she added. “The government’s lagging behind that reality, so maybe they’ll finally catch up.” The U.S. government will take a big step in that direction Thursday as Washington officially declares an end to the coronavirus pandemic by allowing the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) to expire. (Haines, 5/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
COVID Emergency Is Over, WHO Says. Here’s What Bay Area Data Shows
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease expert at Stanford, said the time is right for the transition. “At a certain point, you can’t live in an emergency mode any longer,” she said. “You need to start incorporating best practices into daily life — into international, national, and local policies, into public health, into virtually every aspect of our life that we found this virus affected. And, no, the virus is clearly not gone.” (Vaziri, 5/5)
The Baltimore Sun:
‘A Turning Of The Page’: Maryland Doctors, Leaders Reflect On End Of COVID Public Health Emergency
The influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919 sickened a third of the world’s population and killed 1 in every 36 people — 50 million in all. But in the outbreak’s aftermath, history shows those who survived generally didn’t want to talk about it. One hundred years later, after another deadly virus ravaged the globe, the country is again settling back to a version of life as it existed before. The national public health emergency that started in January 2020 as the coronavirus struck will come to an end Thursday. (Roberts, 5/5)
More on the spread of covid —
The Colorado Sun:
Colorado Is Ending Its Exposure Notifications Phone App For COVID
It’s time to say RIP to Exposure Notifications, that thing on your phone that, if you enabled it, would sometimes buzz and tell you that you had been near someone who later tested positive for COVID-19. The service is ending in Colorado on Thursday, according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment. Users will receive a notice on their phones saying that the service is no longer operational and a prompt to delete their app data. (Ingold, 5/8)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID: Californians Get 6 Extra Months Of Free Tests
If your medicine cabinet is low on COVID tests, you only have a few days left to stock up for free from the federal government. And starting Friday, the feds also will no longer protect patients from being billed for their COVID testing. But there’s good news for Californians: The state legislature has given Golden State residents an extra six months of guaranteed coverage of COVID tests and reimbursements from their insurance. (Blair Rowan, 5/6)
CIDRAP:
Some Messages More Likely To Sway Parents To Vaccinate Kids Against COVID, Survey Finds
A survey of 898 parents found that more were very likely to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 after reading messages indicating that other trusted parents have done so or that the vaccine is safe, but not when the messages said the vaccine is well-tolerated. The results were published today in Pediatrics. (Van Beusekom, 5/5)
