COVID emergency ending: Too soon or long overdue?

“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

What’s happening

President Biden announced Monday that the two national emergencies that have provided the legal basis for much of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic will end on May 11.

While the declaration of emergencies carried symbolic weight, their most important effect was in giving the government expanded power to take actions that it couldn’t do under normal circumstances. Since the separate national and public health emergencies were declared in early 2020, they have provided legal leeway for everything from vaccine development, mask mandates, expansion of health coverage and telehealth, updated hospital procedures, no-cost COVID testing and treatment, and even the controversial immigration policy known as Title 42.

Biden’s decision came shortly after Republicans in the House of Representatives unveiled a plan to pass legislation that would end the emergencies immediately, but those bills are unlikely to become law.

Though some of the most substantial elements of the federal pandemic response have already been phased out, the end of the emergency declarations will have noticeable effects. Vaccines, testing and treatment — which have been mostly free for the past three years — may carry some new costs, especially for the uninsured. Shipments of free at-home COVID tests will end, as will extra funding that has helped hospitals endure the costs of treating COVID patients.

One of the most important remaining policies that came out of the emergency declarations, rules that barred states from kicking people off Medicaid, will end in April thanks to a provision passed by Congress late last year. Roughly 15 million people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage when that happens, including nearly 7 million who still qualify for the program but may fall through cracks in the bureaucracy.

Why there’s debate

Many public health experts agree with Biden’s decision to end the emergencies, arguing that the decision marks an important transition to treating the coronavirus as an endemic health threat rather than an immediate crisis. “Everyone wants to move on — not necessarily feel that we can’t do better — but move on to a next phase, so we can really begin to assimilate some form of approaching normality,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was the face of the government’s pandemic response, told Bloomberg Law.

Conservatives have largely argued that the move is long overdue and have accused the Biden administration of clinging to its emergency powers as a way to impose unpopular policies on the American people. Some make the case that the emergency should be ended right away, despite Biden’s warning that doing so would create “wide-ranging chaos” in the health care system.

But critics of the decision say that with roughly 500 people dying every day, the COVID emergency is far from over. They argue that rolling back support for testing, vaccinations and treatment will leave Americans — especially those who are at the greatest risk — vulnerable to life-threatening infections and undermine the country’s ability to stifle any future surges caused by potential new variants of the virus.

What’s next

The end of the public health emergency may affect ongoing legal battles around pandemic-era immigration restrictions and Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Both matters are being considered by the Supreme Court, and it remains to be seen how this might influence the justices’ rulings.

Perspectives

SUPPORTERS

The country needs to shift to a sustained, long-term COVID strategy

“Covid has become endemic, and the focus going forward must shift from treating it as the dire emergency it once was to managing its effects — in particular, protecting those still vulnerable to severe outcomes from the virus.” — Leana S. Wen, Washington Post