Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra answers questions during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to debate reopening schools through the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., September 30, 2021.
Greg Nash | Pool | Reuters
The U.S. Covid public health emergency will remain in place past Jan. 11 after the federal government didn’t notify states or health-care provides on Friday of any intent to lift the declaration.
Health and Human Services Secretary Secretary Xavier Becerra has promised to present stakeholders 60 days notice before lifting the emergency declaration so that they can prepare for a return to normal operations. In October, HHS prolonged the general public health emergency until Jan. 11.
HHS didn’t provide a 60-day notice on Friday, which was the deadline to alert states and health-care providers if the federal government planned to lift the declaration on Jan. 11, based on a Health and Human Services spokesperson. Since HHS didn’t provide notification, the emergency will remain in place for not less than one other 60 days until mid January.
Public health officials expect one other Covid surge this winter as people gather more indoors where the virus spreads easier. The long run also stays uncertain as more immune evasive omicron subvariants develop into dominant within the U.S.
How the U.S. fares against Covid this fall and winter will help determine whether the emergency must be renewed again moving forward, Becerra told reporters in October.
The general public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has had an unlimited impact on the U.S. health-care system. The declaration has dramatically expanded public medical insurance through Medicaid and the Kid’s Health Insurance Program. Enrollment in these programs increased 26% through the pandemic to a record of greater than 89 million people as of June.
HHS has estimated that as many as 15 million people could lose Medicaid or CHIP once the programs return to normal operations.
The emergency declaration has also given hospitals and other health-care providers more flexibility in how they operate.
Correction: HHS clarified that public health emergency stays in place for not less than one other 60 days, which is mid January.
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