The Biden administration plans to end the Covid public health emergency this spring, as the U.S. shifts away from responding to the pandemic as a national crisis and instead manages the virus more like a seasonal respiratory disease.
The White House, in a statement on Monday, said it would terminate on May 11 the public health and national emergencies that the Trump administration first declared in 2020.
The statement issued by the Office of Management and Budget expressed the White House’s strong opposition to House Republican legislation aiming to immediately end the emergency declarations.
The public health and national emergencies have enabled hospitals and other health-care providers to respond more flexibly when faced with spikes in patient volume during Covid surges.
Enrollment in Medicaid also has surged because Congress basically barred states from withdrawing people from the program, citing the public health emergency.