The end of the U.S. COVID public health emergency on May 11 comes with a set of policy changes, and it also brings a sense of closure to an extraordinarily difficult time. But for many people, life before and after COVID are markedly different.
As NPR reporters have covered the twists and turns of the pandemic, they have talked to hundreds of people – local public health workers, long COVID patients and people who lost loved ones to COVID, among many others. NPR called several of the people interviewed over the past three years back this week to ask for their reflections and hear how the end of the public health emergency strikes them.
