Feds End COVID-19 Emergency Declaration

The federal emergency declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic expired at midnight Thursday, May 11.

“This declaration provided governments the flexibility to ensure the health of their citizens, it provided funding for the response, and it ultimately aided in combatting the virus,” Dr. Ben Weston said during a media briefing Tuesday.

With the expiration comes several changes to healthcare regimes and protocols established during the pandemic. The last free treatments, vaccines and testing kits are those that are already in the stocks of local and state governments.

“Now as this public health emergency ends it means changes across a broad swath of services,” Weston said.

No More Free Vaccines, Testing, Treatment

The end of free vaccines and testing is likely to be the biggest change for the public at large. For the past three years, federal funding has ensured free local testing and vaccine regimes.

“The vaccine will continue to be free until that supply is depleted,” Weston said. After that, it becomes a matter for insurance providers to cover.

Weston called the vaccines the “linchpin” of the public health response to COVID-19, “saving countless lives and leading to significantly decreased burden on our health systems and our communities.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will operate a “bridge access program” that will maintain access to free vaccines for the uninsured, Weston said. But for anyone on public or private insurance plans, there will be a cost.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently changed the guidelines for being up to date on COVID-19 vaccination. For those six years old and older, you now only need one dose of the updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. Those 65 and older can receive one additional dose four months after their first dose of the updated vaccines, and those who are immunocompromised can receive an additional dose two months after their first dose of the updated vaccine.

Local governments running testing regimes will hold out as long as federal stimulus funding lasts. Peter LaBonte, county program manager for employee engagement, recently told a county task force charged with reviewing spending proposals for federal stimulus funds that the testing regimens at just the Milwaukee County Jail and the Community Reintegration Center were costing the county approximately $8,000 to $10,000 a week. “And up until the end of April, we were getting support through the state which, by extension, was through the CDC,” he said.

Medicaid recipients will have access to free at-home tests, but “lab-based testing will in many cases come with a cost,” Weston said.

Treatments, like the drug Paxlovid, were also purchased by the government and will remain free as long as current supplies last, he said. These drugs have been critical to providing care for populations that are at a higher risk of hospitalization and death from the disease, specifically those in older age groups, he said. “These critical medications will most likely be associated with a cost that varies depending on insurance.”

End of Medicaid Reenrollment

The emergency declaration allowed millions of people across the country to remain on Medicaid without re-enrolling for the past three years. They will now have to re-enroll or, if they no longer qualify, find other health insurance. The county’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has estimated that as many as 90,000 county residents could be kicked off Medicaid.

The county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Task Force recommended using $500,000 in stimulus funds to support existing public awareness and outreach campaigns, as well as programs that will assist residents with re-enrolling or finding other insurance. Maintaining health insurance isn’t just important to health outcomes, Weston said, it’s also protection against “costly, burdensome and sometimes debilitating medical debt.”

‘A new state of the pandemic’

Weston noted Tuesday that Milwaukee County recently has been experiencing some of the lowest levels of hospitalizations and death from COVID-19 “recorded during the entire duration of the pandemic.”

“We see our community and country enter a new state of the pandemic,” he said. The county recently announced it would relax COVID-19 requirements, getting rid of a vaccine mandate for county employees and contractors, as well as masking requirements.

That said, the disease continues to affect people and circulate in the community.

“So, for folks who have not received your updated booster,” Weston said, “particularly those over 65 or immunocompromised who can now receive a second booster, now is the time to protect yourselves from the worst outcomes of infection.”