The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be treated as a public health emergency through the middle of January because the federal government did not take any steps to revoke that designation on Friday.
States have been guaranteed a 60-day notice before the public health emergency designation is lifted by the US Department of Health and Human Services, which was most recently extended through January 11. If HHS had intended to extend it, Friday would have been the deadline.
According to CNBC and other news sources, the public health emergency will continue through January 11, 2023, if HHS does nothing. What will occur next was not disclosed by the government. Since the first declaration of the public health emergency by the Trump administration in January 2020, it has been extended every 90 days.
The proclamation made significant systemic adjustments possible to address the epidemic, including the free provision of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines. Additionally, telemedicine services were increased, and millions more Americans now have access to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Health officials have warned that those services would once again be required as winter approaches and another COVID surge is possible.
The New York Times stated that during the past 14 days, the number of new COVID cases has increased by 8% while the number of new hospitalizations has increased by 3%. According to The Times, the number of COVID-related deaths has decreased by around 10% over the past two weeks, to about 317 each day.
