The U.S. government announced Monday to the U.S. Congress that it will end the national public health emergency declared by the coronavirus epidemic on May 11, three years after the virus first arrived on U.S. soil.
This was announced by US President Joe Biden in a statement in which he detailed that the national emergency and the public health emergency declared by the Trump Administration in 2020, which expired on March 1 and April 11, respectively, will be extended until May 11, 2023 and then end.
This decision is motivated by providing at least 60 days’ notice of the end of the emergencies to hospitals, doctors’ offices and nursing homes, in order to avoid an abrupt end and subsequent chaos and uncertainty.
«The continuation of these emergency declarations through May 11 do not impose any restrictions on individual conduct with respect to COVID-19. They do not impose facemask mandates or vaccine mandates,» reads Biden’s missive, before listing two of the considerations for this decision.
«If the national health emergency were suddenly terminated, it would sow confusion and chaos in this critical settlement. Because of this uncertainty, tens of millions of Americans could be at risk of abruptly losing their health insurance, and states could be at risk of losing billions of dollars in funding,» the White House has argued.
This would allow adequate time for medical centers to train staff and establish new billing processes, avoiding crashes and long waiting lists.
THE END OF TITLE 42 Biden has stressed that another consequence of the end of the national emergencies declared by the COVID-19 pandemic is that it will put an end to the Title 42 policy, the border policy of the Trump era.
In this regard, Biden has recalled that despite his administration’s previous attempts to end the measure, the Supreme Court in late December suspended its expiration citing that Title 42 was an effective tool against the spread of the coronavirus, which is why it still remains in force.
For this reason, he has stressed that with the end of this policy, the flow of migrants into the country, especially from the southern border, is expected to increase considerably.
«The administration supports an orderly and predictable winding down of Title 42, with sufficient time to implement alternative policies,» Biden emphasized, reiterating his support for ending the emergencies on May 11.
Title 42 is a public health provision pushed by the previous U.S. Administration, presided over by Donald Trump, that authorizes the collective removal of any migrant and asylum seeker who attempts to cross U.S. land borders without an individual assessment of their circumstances and protection needs.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
