The impact of President Joe Biden’s decision to end both the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency on May 11 will become more clear over the next few months, but here’s what the public will notice first: People will have to pay for things they did not have to worry about while the emergency was in place.
The public health emergency allowed the government to provide Americans with COVID vaccines, tests and treatments. With the declarations set to expire, the federal response would be changed to treat the virus as a public health threat that can be managed through everyday agencies.
