Covid-19: in the United States, the state of health emergency will end on May 11

After three years of existence, the state of health emergency declared in the United States will officially end on May 11, the White House announced on Monday.

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 when the Covid-19 epidemic took over, will lead to the end of federal subsidies for treatments against Covid-19, insurance health and other pandemic-related government assistance.

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.

"Hospitals and nursing homes, which have grown accustomed to the flexibilities allowed by these states of emergency, will descend into chaos without the time needed to retrain their workers and establish a new billing system," the statement said.

An impact on immigration

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 due to the health emergency .

Ending this status “precipitously” will lead to “a considerable additional influx of migrants.

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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.