Just days following a World Health Organization decision to extend the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) status of the global pandemic, as Open Jaw has reported, the White House has announced it's ending twin national emergencies related to COVID-19.
American President Joe Biden informed Congress on 30JAN that U.S. national COVID emergency status will end on 11MAY.
As much of the world has turned to treating COVID as endemic and returned to operating much as normal, the U.S. remains one of the few countries retaining COVID-related travel restrictions, including requiring non-citizen air arrivals to provide proof of vaccination status.
The U.S. approach runs counter to the Canadian government's policy decision to extend COVID's emergency status following the WHO's 27JAN declaration of extended emergency status for COVID, even while travel restrictions designed to mitigate the spread of the virus ended in Canada on 01OCT, 2022.
In the U.S., the CBC reports, ending COVID's emergency status at the federal level would result in the virus being treated as an endemic public health threat to be managed "through agencies' normal authorities," as opposed to extraordinary measures that have been applied up til now.
The report adds that the American president's statement, "comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. Combined with the drawdown of most federal COVID-19 relief money, it would also shift the development of vaccines and treatments away from the direct management of the federal government."
It notes that politicians at all levels in the U.S., especially following NOV elections that reduced Democratic members, have increasingly also called for elimination of any remaining COVID-related restrictions.
So, while U.S. President Biden's statement about the national COVID emergency status did not address any travel restrictions directly, it seems that the move will likely also result in the U.S.' air arrival vaccine mandate also being dropped at last.
