Covid in the United States: the state of emergency will end on May 11
In Times Square, New York, queues to get tested for Covid-19 in December 2021. AP - Yuki Iwamura
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The state of health emergency, declared when the Covid-19 epidemic took over the United States three years ago, will officially end on May 11, the White House announced on Monday January 30.
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Two declarations of state of emergency had been made in the country: one called “national” and another of “public health”.
The end of
these statutes, which
came into effect in January 2020 under the presidency of Donald Trump, will lead to the end of federal subsidies for treatments against Covid-19, health insurance and other government assistance related to the pandemic.
In fact, part of the federal funds to help Americans during the pandemic have already dried up due to decisions by Congress.
For the rest of the funds, these are the subject of bitter political discussions.
Republican lawmakers who control the House of Representatives are preparing bills that would seek to end the statutes sooner: March 1 for the national emergency and April 11 for the public health emergency.
A hasty end to the state of emergency would have "
very significant consequences for our nation's health care system and government operations
," including "
chaos and uncertainty in the health care system
," it said. warned the White House in a press release.
An impact on migration
Another reason given for a 60-day notice period is to give the government time to prepare for the impact of the lifting of emergency measures on immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the press release.
A rule known as
Title 42,
currently in place to allow immediate removal of any illegal alien intercepted at the border, including potential asylum seekers, is only legal because of the health emergency.
Ending this status “
precipitously
” will lead to “
a considerable additional influx of migrants
”.
The White House says it wants to end Title 42 and replace it with another legal mechanism to control the influx of would-be immigrants, but says it needs time to do so.
(with
AFP
)
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