World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the COVID global health emergency last week. However, the move is probably not good news for several reasons.
COVID-19 Related Care Is Set to Become Expensive
When the federal government lifts its pandemic emergency declaration on Thursday, most Americans may anticipate paying extra for COVID-related medical treatment.
That's the warning from medical professionals who say that once the government emergency ends and insurance companies start having a bigger role in COVID care options, free access to tests, treatments, and immunizations will end for many Americans, Daily Herald reported.
According to Dr. Emily Landon, director of the University of Chicago's infectious disease prevention and control division, the issue is that we have been relying on tests, treatments, and vaccines being readily accessible as a public health strategy, and the emergency declaration funded those instruments. The insurance company should not be the last group to judge public health. She added that they don't want these resources to be publicly inaccessible.
Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, expressed his wish for a minimum transition as people return to the conventional healthcare system.
Most free COVID-19-related programs are still available to those with Medicaid, but fewer people qualify for them after the emergency declaration ends. After Thursday, between 400,000 and 700,000 people in Illinois alone could lose their insurance.
Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, director of the Cook County Department of Public Health, oversees the county's suburban area, expressed his deep worry for those without insurance. He says they stand to gain the most from increased COVID healthcare costs.
Other Concerns After COVID Emergency Declaration Ends
Aside from the increasing cost of COVID-related care, some experts are concerned that it would now be more difficult to track new variants since CDC will not be tracking them, and there will be less data about them.
The CDC will stop monitoring community levels of transmission when the US declares a state of emergency on May 11 and will start monitoring overall hospitalization and mortality rates. Local data delivery requirements that were imposed by the emergency declaration will now expire, Wire reported.
Additionally, with fewer data, it will be more difficult to follow new variants, making it more difficult to update vaccinations to offer the greatest level of protection, while wastewater and genomic monitoring will still be conducted in some places. Less information will be available if new varieties start circulating and Covid-19 comes crashing back in the fall.
The change will also make it more difficult for public health experts to communicate the potential severity of a future variant's risk. According to Sam Scarpino, a professor of health sciences and computer science at Northeastern University, the message that "it's over, we've won" is preparing us for a significant betrayal of confidence if there is another variation that emerges.
Additionally, forecasting future epidemics is quite challenging. Transmission rates are subject to rapid change due to behavioral changes. Because outbreaks move and change more slowly than other phenomena, such as the weather, it is easier to foresee what may happen day to day once an outbreak has started, according to Scarpino. However, applying similar measurements to an upcoming outbreak of a new Covid-19 subtype or any novel disease is challenging as human actions are inconsistent.
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