The COVID public health emergency ends this week. Here's what's changing

The U.S. public health emergency declaration helped marshal resources during the worst of the COVID-19 crisis, when the virus was spreading rampantly. This week, the declaring expires. (Frederic J. Brown /AFP via Getty Images)

On Jan. 31, 2020, with six confirmed cases of a new coronavirus in the U.S., a group of federal health officials gathered somberly at the lectern at the White House and declared a public health emergency.

"Beginning at 5:00 p.m. EST Sunday, February the 2nd, the United States government will implement temporary measures to increase our abilities to detect and contain the coronavirus proactively and aggressively," announced then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.