The COVID-19 emergency is over. After three years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the virus "no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern." Many countries have decided the same. In April, the United States lifted its own national emergency and has decided to let a public health emergency declaration expire this week-meaning no more free tests, vaccines, or medications for many people. Hospitalizations are way down nationwide from peak levels and, here in Massachusetts, every county has held a steady low case count for months. In a major moment, some hospitals this month even reported zero inpatients with the disease. So, we're done, right? Back to a carefree-and mask-free-life?
Maybe not. The WHO didn't downgrade COVID-19's classification as a pandemic. And the United States alone is still tracking about 80,000 new weekly cases and more than 1,000 weekly deaths-numbers that Boston University research suggests may actually be undercounted. Surges in cases and deaths continue to spring up worldwide, most recently in India.
To make sense of the ending declarations, their potential impact, and what it means for where we're at in the pandemic, The Brink spoke with Ellie Murray, a BU School of Public Health assistant professor of epidemiology and a faculty affiliate at the University's Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy & Research.
