The public emergency in the United States will now last for an additional three months, or at least until October 13. The decision was made in response to an increase in cases of the COVID-19 virus's BA.5 variant being detected. The Health and Human Services Secretary made the statement on Friday.
According to a Biden administration official, "The Public Health Emergency declaration continues to provide us with tools and authorities needed to respond to the highly transmissible COVID-19 subvariants that are currently circulating around the country." "The PHE provides essential capabilities and flexibilities to hospitals to better care for patients, particularly if we were to see a significant increase in hospitalizations in the coming weeks."
In some ways, it appears as though the prolongation of the public health emergency is merely a formality that gives the government more discretion in putting further restrictions into place.
"Without the PHE in place, we would be limited in our ability to provide broad and equitable access to lifesaving treatments through our Test to Treat initiative, for example, which relies on flexibility for telehealth and operations," the official stated. "Not renewing the PHE would leave us with fewer tools to respond and mean more Americans would get severely ill and end up in the hospital."
"From what I can tell here, nobody is really listening to this President and administration," Tyson Wharton said.
He also stated that after more than two years, it's likely that the majority of people have had their fill of COVID-19.
"I doubt half the people even know about (the extension of the public health emergency)," he said "So I don't think that will make a difference for my clients' travel plans. What is really slowing things down is the inflation pricing. I have seen more people put off travel because of $1,000 cabin tickets than are worried about COVID."
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