Federal COVID-19 public health emergency comes to an end
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The COVID-19 public health emergency is officially over.
The White House's COVID Response Coordinator says it marks a transition point, not an end to COVID-19.
It's an interesting transition point both nationally and locally.
While the healthcare system has a much better grasp on COVID-19 than it did three years ago, COVID-19 is still around.
Locally here in Allegheny County, there were 323 new COVID-19 infections during the first week of May.
23 of those resulted in hospitalizations and there were zero new deaths.
The big difference in these statistics compared to the start of the pandemic is that the numbers are way down across the board.
Now that the public health emergency has ended, what does that mean?
- First off, Medicaid guidelines have changed.
- Older adults on Medicare will no longer be able to obtain eight rapid COVID-19 tests each month
- Also, over-the-counter tests are no longer free
- The CDC will stop sharing transmission levels with the public
- Prescriptions over telehealth may no longer be available for some medications
- Most vaccine requirements for many companies will now end
