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2/12/2025 12:32:34 AM
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Mission accomplished?: What does the end of the COVID emergency mean?


Mission accomplished?: What does the end of the COVID emergency mean?

Three-year-old twins Luca, left, and Quincy Yacoub show off their Band-Aids after getting a COVID-19 vaccine from KJ Dionisio at the Southern Nevada Health District in Las Vegas Wednesday, June 22, 2022. A COVID-19 test set vending machine is seen at the Regional Transportation Commission's (RTC) Bonneville Transit Center, on Thursday June 9, 2022, in Las Vegas. A COVID-19 test package vending maker is seen at the Regional Transportation Commission's (RTC) Bonneville Transit Center, on Thursday June 9, 2022, in Las Vegas.
The U.S. government on Thursday will lift the COVID-19 public health emergency situation that has actually been in impact for more than three years.

By ending the emergency stage of the general public health action, "That kind of puts a period at the end of the pandemic sentence," Vanderbilt University's Dr. William Schaffner, a specialist on transmittable diseases, stated.

" We're plainly past the pandemic phase of COVID-19 here in the United States," he said. "We no longer have actually a stressed health care system. We no longer have as many individuals becoming sick, seriously ill and passing away of this vicious infection."

He cautioned against thinking it's "mission achieved."

" This virus is still with us," and killing 200 to 300 individuals in the U.S. every day, he said.

The stage of the disease has gone from pandemic to endemic, or consistently present.

" And in order to keep ourselves protected against this virus on a long-lasting basis - - because it's not going to vanish - - we're going to need to discover how to keep our guard up," he said.

Keeping our guard up will consist of ongoing COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters, treatments and testing, he said.

How will these core components of the public health action be changing since Thursday?


Vaccinations

Presently, all COVID-19 vaccines are complimentary and commonly available of charge, regardless of health insurance or migration status, according to Shannon Litz, a representative of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.

" This will continue till the federally bought products have actually been depleted," Litz stated, which could be by late summer season or early fall.

When that occurs, the vaccines will be covered by both personal and public insurance coverage and will remain offered to uninsured adults through a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services bridge program, Litz stated in an email.

Numerous Americans will continue to pay zero out-of-pocket for COVID-19 vaccines, according to the federal company. Vaccines advised by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (of which Schaffner is a member) are a preventive health service under many private strategies and will be fully covered without a co-pay.

COVID-19 vaccinations are presently covered under Medicare Part B without a co-pay or cost-sharing, and this will continue.

Medicaid will continue to cover all COVID-19 vaccinations without a co-pay or expense sharing through September 2024, and will cover what the immunization advisory committee recommends after that.

" The most substantial change that the public may experience is the ask for insured individuals to supply their insurance card sometimes of vaccination as vaccinators will be able to charge their insurance coverage for both the expense of a vaccine and the vaccine administration charge," Litz said.

To discover a vaccine place, go to vaccines.gov.

Treatments

Access to COVID-19 treatments such as Paxlovid and Lagevrio generally will not be affected, according to the federal health department.

Out-of-pocket expenditures for certain treatments may change, depending on an individual's medical insurance coverage.

Medicaid programs will continue to cover COVID-19 treatments without expense sharing through September 2024. After that, protection and cost sharing may vary by state.

COVID-19 testing

The era of "free" COVID-19 tests is coming to a close - - although, of course, they were being moneyed by taxpayers, but without out-of-pocket expenditures.

The requirement for personal insurer to cover COVID-19 tests without cost-sharing – – for both over-the-counter tests and lab tests – – will end.

When ordered by a company, Medicare recipients registered in Part B will continue to have protection without cost-sharing for lab COVID-19 tests. Nevertheless, there will be out-of-pocket expenses for over-the-counter tests.

State Medicaid programs should offer protection without cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing through September 2024, after which coverage may differ by state.

Depending upon the supply and resources, the U.S. federal government might continue to distribute free COVID-19 tests from the Strategic National Stockpile through the United States Postal Service, states and neighborhood partners, according to the federal health department.

Telehealth

The country welcomed telehealth during the pandemic.

Broadened telehealth for Medicare recipients, which was because of end, will remain in result through December 2024 as an outcome of the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Many personal insurers already covered telemedicine before the pandemic, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has actually temporarily extended a public health emergency arrangement that allows recommending controlled substances such as Adderall and oxycodone in a telehealth check out, rather than needing an in-person check out. The length of the extension stays unpredictable.

‘‘ This virus is not gone'


On Friday, the World Health Organization echoed the U.S. federal government's message by stating that COVID-19 no longer certifies as a global health emergency.

" One of the things that the WHO is not changing is worldwide surveillance, which continues to be active 24/7/366 trying to find new variants of the virus," Schaffner said. "Which lets you know that everyone are out there acknowledging that this virus is not gone, and it could mutate into another version. …….

" We wouldn't be doing that if we believed it were simply ‘‘ objective achieved,'" he stated.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.

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Elwood Hill
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Elwood Hill

Elwood Hill is an award-winning journalist with more than 18 years' of experience in the industry. Throughout his career, John has worked on a variety of different stories and assignments including national politics, local sports, and international business news. Elwood graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and immediately began working for Breaking Now News as lead journalist.

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