The COVID-19 State of Emergency is Lifted

As it stands, these past few years have been quite… interesting for a number of reasons. But of course the most prominent one is that we’ve been living in the throes of a pandemic. For just about 3 years as of now, we’ve been dealing with the COVID-19 virus. It came with its own wave of complications, and took a massive toll on the world. Restrictions were put in place for the better part of it, throwing everything out of balance. Lots of business was lost during lockdown. And with those that could stay open, severe health and safety mandates became the norm. But then after a while, cases lowered, and the mandates still had effect, but things got lax. And with that lax behavior, things fluctuated and things started changing all around. But now, as of May 11, 2023, the Public Health Emergency on COVID-19 has been lifted. 

And that’s what we’d like to cover in this article.

The News of the Pandemic

According to the CDC’s COVID timeline, in late January of 2020, the first two travel-related cases of COVID-19 were found in Illinois. And in March of 2020, different states started implementing lockdown measures when it was classified as a pandemic threat. A state of emergency was initiated across the country, and that’s where it all started. The non-essential businesses shutting down, the mask mandates, constant checks. The new norm that was put into place for so long. Everything was tightly looked over and everyone was tightly wound because of it. But after a couple years, things started to lower, restrictions suddenly became suggestions. And then finally, as of May 11th, 2023, the state of emergency, the PHE, had been officially lifted was lifted.

After the beginnings and unknowns of the virus’ wake, it was seemingly on a downward trend for about a year. And WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the changes this downward trend would bring, would “allow this trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID-19.“

WHO Said What

A press conference was held on by the World Health Organization on Friday, May 5th, 2023. And WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke on the official end to the PHE. We mentioned above, his statement about the downward trend. That statement was following one prior, in which he said,”COVID-19 has been so much more than a health crisis, disrupting economies, travel, shattering businesses and plunging millions into poverty.” And he went on to make this pronouncement: “Therefore, with great hope, I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.” 

He then began to speak about: “the painful lessons we have learned,” emphasizing that “the investments we have made and the capacities we have built must not go to waste. We owe it to those we have lost. To leverage those investments, to build on those capacities, to learn those lessons and to transform that suffering into meaningful and lasting change. One of the greatest tragedies of COVID-19 is that it didn’t have to be this way.” (credit, npr.org)

What Does This Mean For You?

Obviously with something like this lifting of a 3-year long state of emergency, it’s not so cut-and-dry. Things still change once the effect goes into order regardless, and knowing is half the battle. And speaking of battles, after this long and arduous fight with the virus, we’re now more equipped than ever to handle it. That and the downward trend are the biggest examples of what we’ve got and what we’re dealing with now. 

The CDC actually created an updated form as to the detailed changes that this lift would bring. And we’re going to summarize it here, but if you want the full detailed report, the CDC official website has it here. But generally, vaccines, treatments and the like are largely unchanged. But the data collection from health officials is changing. 

Here’s what the end of the PHE means for the general public:

• Vaccines will still be available, as the HHS remains committed to ensuring maximum continued access to COVID-19 vaccines to keep communities safe. 
• Insurance companies might not cover at-home testing anymore, but there are CDC location programs to help you find No-Cost Testing. 
• Treatments will still be available, it’ll be free while supplies last, but afterwards, price is determined by manufacturers and health insurance companies. 
• National reporting and data collection will change, we have real-time statistics now, but different aspects of it may change.

And there are metrics that will remain available, and any changes they undergo can be found here on the CDC’s official site.

Final Thoughts

After 3 years, and the rise and fall of both mandates and cases, the state of emergency finally comes to an end. And with that come some changes that affect certain aspects of everyday life. Whether its the lack of mandatory masks or your favorite places opening up again for good. The pandemic as a whole put the world into a place that it wasn’t prepared for. But with the help from many different places, we learned, we found a way to combat it and we fought back. And while cases now are on the decline, the millions of cases that ended lives are certainly nothing to take lightly.

But after all that, we’re prepared to continue to give help. To keep fighting and get those numbers as low as we can get them. Continued support is key to ensuring the protection of communities the world over. And after all this, we’re to hopefully go back to the way things were before all of this. 

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