President Joe Biden Says the “PANDEMIC IS OVER”

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, in an interview with “60 Minutes” at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, US President Joe Biden said he believes that the COVID-19 “pandemic is over” while simultaneously acknowledging that the disease continues to be a “problem.” Notably, a White House team that reviewed the transcript of the interview, which aired September 18 but was taped last week, did not alert its COVID-19 response team about the declaration, leaving senior federal health officials surprised and without a coordinated response for the immediate reactions. President Biden had not originally planned to make headlines on COVID-19, nor had he discussed an end to the pandemic with his health advisors. The day after the interview aired, US HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra supported the president’s comments, saying that effective vaccines, tests, and treatments put the nation on a better path than earlier in the pandemic and noted the administration is reviewing whether it will renew the national declaration of a public health emergency.

Get Published , Tell your story #TheRidgewoodblog , #Indpendentnews #information #advertise #guestpost #affiliatemarketing ,#NorthJersey #NJ , #News #localnews #bergencounty #nj #sponsoredpost #SponsoredContent #contentplacement #guestposts #linkplacement Email: Onlyonesmallvoice@gmail.com

The big money interests immediately pounced on the presidents words . President Biden’s comments drew swift and sharp reactions from public health experts and appeared to further divide opinions over when and how the nation will move out of a pandemic state and into one of endemicity. Some experts supported the president’s comments, noting that while COVID-19 should continue to qualify as a top national priority, much of the nation is settling into a new way of life. Other experts fear that President Biden’s declaration further muddles the messaging surrounding the pandemic and comes at an inopportune time, when the US government is rolling out new bivalent vaccine boosters and asking the US Congress for additional emergency spending. Additionally, virologists are seeing signs of viral resurgence, underlining the enormous amount of uncertainty surrounding the future.

While there are no clear markers to the end of a pandemic, some experts point to 2 ways to determine when an outbreak emergency is over: by looking at what the disease is doing physically and psychologically to a population. To be sure, President Biden’s comments reflect a general national sentiment that people want to move on from the pandemic and that the situation differs significantly from 2 years ago. Schools are open; air travel has returned to pre-pandemic levels; workers are returning to offices at the highest rates since the start of the pandemic, although 1 in 3 say they fear infection by working in offices; and COVID-19 testing labs and at-home test manufacturers are downsizing, but primarily due to a lack of funding.

However, many, including White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, are worried the nation is not where it needs to be in order to “live with the virus.” The US continues to record more than 400 daily deaths, and the world counts more than 1,600 deaths each day. Notably, this means the US accounts for nearly 25% of the worldwide daily COVID-19 mortality, despite representing only 4% of the global population. A significant portion of the US population remains unvaccinated or under-vaccinated, and therefore at elevated risk of severe disease and death. Nationally, 68% of the population has received a primary vaccine series but only 35% of those over age 5 have gotten a first vaccine booster dose. The president’s remarks could further hinder efforts to increase vaccination and booster rates ahead of what many expect will be a surge in cases over the winter. Additionally, the pandemic has had crippling health, social, and economic impacts on essential workers and vulnerable populations, such as those who are immunocompromised, and on the estimated 18–23 million US residents who are suffering the long-term physical and mental health effects of long COVID.

President Biden’s remarks also likely will undercut his administration’s efforts to procure additional emergency spending for COVID-19. The White House has requested US$22.4 billion from the US Congress, but leading Republicans, who were already skeptical about authorizing additional funding, said the president’s comments essentially shut the door on negotiations as well as raise questions about other pandemic-related measures. Without additional funds for vaccine, treatment, and diagnostic supplies, or for research into next generation vaccines that could prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the burden to pay for pandemic-related tools and stop chains of transmission will shift to the US public, and it remains to be seen whether federal and state policymakers will learn lessons from this pandemic in order to strengthen public health infrastructure to prepare for the next.