The COVID-19 public health emergency is over

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What health experts want now that the COVID-19 public health emergency is over By Alice Park Senior Health Correspondent The public health emergency for COVID-19 expires today, which means that many of the unprecedented services and funds that became available to combat the pandemic will go away. Those include free at-home tests and treatments provided by the federal government, along with more generous policies about insurance coverage and higher reimbursements to hospitals for COVID-19 patients. Extraordinary measures like these didn’t completely insulate the country from the effects of the pandemic, which claimed more than 1.1 million lives. But they did help more than 104 million people recover from their infection, and public health experts hope that some of the measures and programs become permanent so the country can respond more quickly and effectively to the next health threat. Here are the lessons that health experts hope political leaders and the public retain when—not if—the next pandemic strikes: Widespread self-testing for an infectious agent is an important tool for informing people that they are sick and should isolate, thereby reducing spread of disease. Vaccines are the quickest way to provide a substantial level of protection against an infectious disease. We should invest in technologies that can be quickly scaled up. Expanding access to telehealth and other health services—such as obtaining treatments at pharmacies without a doctor’s visit—are key to limiting disease spread. READ MORE   Share This Story

What Else to Read How to Start Teaching Your Kids About Social Media By Haley Weiss The American Psychological Association's new guidelines include 10 recommendations about social-media use for kids. Read More » Mpox Is No Longer a Global Health Emergency, WHO Says By Thomas Mulier/Bloomberg The World Health Organization lowered the global alert level on mpox almost a year after declaring the spread an extraordinary event. Read More » New Rules Allow More Gay Men to Donate Blood in the U.S. By Matthew Perrone/AP Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can now donate blood in the U.S. without abstaining from sex. Read More » This Emergency Is Over. Now It’s Time to Get Ready for the Next Pandemic By Kizzmekia Corbett As the COVID-19 emergency ends, it's clear that America hasn't learned key lessons for the next pandemic. Read More » Scientists Have Built a Human ‘Pangenome’ to Better Reflect Diversity By LAURA UNGAR/AP A novel reference, called the human pangenome, is teaching scientists new things about health and disease. Read More »

AN EXPERT VOICE "Resilience is really important because it's how you deal with stress. If you build it, you can cope with adversity better—but also it relates to how diseases and physical things affect the body." —Dr. Robert Hirten, clinical director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health at Mount Sinai

If you were forwarded this and want to sign up to receive it daily, click here. Today's newsletter was written by Alice Park and Jamie Ducharme, and edited by Mandy Oaklander.

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