WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s administration said on Monday it would end emergency declarations over COVID-19 on May 11, nearly three years after the United States imposed sweeping pandemic measures to curb the spread of the disease.
The COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (PHE) was established in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump. Biden has repeatedly extended the measures that allow millions of Americans to receive free tests, vaccines and treatments.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a statement that the declarations, which were set to expire in the coming months, will be extended again until May 11 and then ended.
“This outage would be consistent with the Administration’s previous commitments to provide at least 60 days before the end of the PHE,” OMB said in an executive policy statement.
The government paid for COVID-19 vaccines, some tests and some treatments according to PHE’s statement. When it expires, those costs will be passed on to private insurance and government health plans.
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OMB said the expiration of PHE will also end directives, known as Title 42, that deport migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti caught crossing the U. Read also : Patient Care Assessments.S.-Mexico border back into Mexico.
OMB said in a separate statement that Biden would veto a proposed bill in the US Congress that would eliminate COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care providers working on certain federal programs.
Cases of COVID-19 are declining in the United States, although more than 500 people continue to die each day from the disease, government data showed.
Reporting by Rami Ayyub, Costas Pitas and Caroline Humer; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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