[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Amid the resurgence of COVID-19, the U.S. government has once again extended the public health emergency declaration.
On the 15th (local time), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the public health emergency would be extended for three months until October 13. The department stated, "The extension of the public health emergency will provide the means and authority to respond to the highly transmissible COVID-19 subvariants spreading nationwide."
The public health emergency has served as the basis for providing free COVID-19 testing, vaccines, and treatments to the public. If this program ends, individuals will have to bear the costs of vaccines and COVID-19 treatments depending on their type of health insurance.
The U.S. government emphasized that the extension of the emergency will enable programs like "test to treat," which provides the antiviral treatment Paxlovid immediately upon a positive test result at COVID-19 testing sites, thereby ensuring more equitable access to treatment for a broader population.
The U.S. has repeatedly extended the public health emergency since it was first declared in January 2020. This latest extension comes as the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 becomes the dominant strain and cases rise again. According to The New York Times (NYT) data, as of the 13th, the seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. was 130,511, a 16% increase compared to two weeks earlier.
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