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The United States has extended the COVID-19 pandemic’s designation as a public health emergency for an additional 90 days, keeping policies including high hospital reimbursement rates and expanded Medicaid. The decision comes after President Joe Biden declared in an earlier interview that “pandemic is over”. Health professionals have harshly criticised Biden’s remarks.
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US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra announced on October 13 that the extension would be valid until January 11, 2023. Becerra’s statement says that “a public health emergency exists and has existed since January 27, 2020, nationwide”.
As better care, drugs, and vaccines have been more readily accessible, the COVID-19 pandemic’s toll in the United States has dramatically decreased from early in Biden’s term when more than 3,000 Americans were dying every day. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus still claims the lives of hundreds of people every day in the US.
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In order to be ready for a potential case surge, Biden has requested Congress for an additional $22.4 billion in financing. In order to provide $50 billion in federal assistance in 2020, the former president Donald Trump proclaimed a national emergency.
According to American immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, it wouldn’t be surprising if a new, more dangerous Covid variant emerged this winter. As such, people should be ready for the chance that another variation could emerge and defeat the immune response that vaccines have produced in humans, Fauci said.
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He urged people not to let their guard down over the winter since there is always a chance of a rise. Despite the fact that things seem to be going well, he continued, it would be premature to declare that the pandemic is finally over.
A federal appeals court judge asked to know how Biden’s ongoing endeavour to impose vaccine requirements on government contractors was impacted after the US president made his controversial statement.
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In another instance, Republican-led states have cited the president’s remarks in a lawsuit they filed to oppose his student loan forgiveness initiative. A growing pandemic, according to Mr. Biden, was one of the administration’s justifications.
(With agency inputs)
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