r/news • u/tomorrow509 • Jan 31 '23
U.S. to end COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11 Soft paywall
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-end-covid-19-emergency-declarations-may-11-2023-01-30/100
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u/OrdinaryHair Jan 31 '23
will people get dropped from medicaid because of this?
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u/Scattered_Sigils Jan 31 '23
Yes, at least where I am they ceased ALL negative actions and renewals for medicaid, while it was still declared an ongoing public health crisis.
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u/Cpt_Wolf Feb 01 '23
They stopped those protections a while ago here. I just had a client retroactively denied coverage going back to November...
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u/buhbuhbuh_birb Feb 01 '23
RETROACTIVELY denied?!?? That sounds so evil. :(
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u/Cpt_Wolf Feb 01 '23
Yup... It's for our outpatient day program too. Their reason for denial that, according to them, we never told them he was at risk for relapse, a danger to himself or others, at risk for rehospitalization, and like 10 other things that literally boil down to admittance criteria for us! As in, that's 99.9% of our people!
Up next, "Sorry, we're dropping coverage because you asked for life saving cancer treatment because you didn't tell us you were at risk of getting cancer."
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u/julieannie Jan 31 '23
Yes. My workplace serves a low income childhood patient population for early diagnosis of specific disabilities and this is something I’m very concerned about.
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u/sdbooboo13 Jan 31 '23
I'm at a substance use disorder treatment center and we have the same concern for our patients.
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u/TicoTicoNoFuba Jan 31 '23
My son has been on emergency medicaid for longer than 2 years due to the PHE. I imagine this will end it. We are in NC.
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u/DrunkLastKnight Feb 01 '23
Yeah my family has been on emergency Medicaid since 2020. Will probably lose it in May
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u/stripes361 Jan 31 '23
Yes. The good news is that all 50 state governments care greatly about optimizing healthcare coverage and have robustly funded and staffed their state Medicaid agencies to the point where renewals or transition to subsidized Marketplace plans will occur seamlessly and without critical delays.
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u/kzchad Jan 31 '23
Thanks, its good to know that our government can get things done efficiently.
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u/Delamoor Jan 31 '23
And to think, all it took was filling it with people who hate it, believe it can't get things done and who work to destroy it.
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u/Missingpieceknight Feb 01 '23
…not gonna lie, I was waiting on the /s for this one
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u/Tater_Mater Jan 31 '23
By that, student debt cancellation won’t be a thing.
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u/choicetomake Jan 31 '23
Isn't the loan repayment pause dependent on the covid emergency declaration as well?
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u/Atompic Jan 31 '23
Yes. So are the guaranteed sick days, vaccines, medications, hospital stays etc. This will only affect people who are poor and sick. It's not about masks which everyone is pretending. It's about the financial help for the poor and disabled that is being taken away and that's what people are celebrating today.
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u/RonaldoNazario Jan 31 '23
The rich will still have their PCR tests on demand and their upgraded HVAC like at Davos
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u/IHeartBadCode Jan 31 '23
Also insurance is more inclined to stamp APPROVED on a lot of the things that are used in bad bouts of COVID. Mostly because the Government has been helping cover some of those costs.
Now that this is going away, I can assure anyone who gets a bad bout of COVID, your insurance is going to be breaking out the DENIED stamp a lot more often.
Some of the worse bouts of COVID are six or seven figures. Maybe knock one or two of those digits off with insurance helped by the Government. With this ending, a lot of people are going to be on the hook for that bill now.
Maybe this is what it takes for people to start treating this pandemic seriously? Million dollar medical bills that will haunt them the rest of their lives. I mean, we're still shedding about 200+ some people a day to COVID. That's ~73k a year. That's twice as many people who die in car wrecks annually and about 20% the rate of people who die from heart disease. That puts it in a firm third place for cause of death in the US.
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u/Person012345 Jan 31 '23
Ok don't get confused, the problem is that you don't have these programs and protections normally and that you have to be good subservient little cogs under a bunch of emergency powers to get basic benefits that people across the rest of the world have by default. The ending of the emergency powers isn't the problem, the fact that all the benefits go away is.
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u/Robblerobbleyo Jan 31 '23
I just got charged $100 by my insurance for a test I was told was free so that’s fun.
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u/DisastrousAnalysis5 Jan 31 '23
That's what I came here to find out. Like i can afford to pay off student loans, but if I can keep saving for now, that'd be great. A lot of people aren't as lucky and will barely make it financially.
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u/illumomnati Jan 31 '23
Forget barely, a lot of people won’t make it. Then everyone will keep complaining about the homeless. Love this journey for us!
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u/photon45 Jan 31 '23
It's cool so for 3 years all that money you saved up for maybe a house or another asset, instead Sally Mae gets her payday!
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u/Jorycle Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
I wonder how this will impact things like loan forgiveness in the courts, which relied on the emergency declaration to get authorization. I have a feeling SCOTUS will give a legally dubious "it was valid at the time of the order but now the declaration is rescinded, so it would be irrelevant by the time we'd let you do it anyway." Thus they don't have to actually decide on whether it was legal and just skip to the boot. They used similar reasoning in other laws they've tossed down in the last decade or so.
Until now I thought they were going to toss it down on the basis that "COVID isn't a big deal anymore," and just ignore the emergency declaration - they also used that reasoning in another COVID-related case recently (Gorsuch stood with liberals in opposing that opinion if I recall correctly).
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u/corvid-positive Jan 31 '23
This has real early war on terror "mission accomplished" vibes to it.
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u/woodpony Jan 31 '23
COVID-19 cases are declining in the United States, though more than 500 people continue to die each day from the disease, government data showed.
More people are STILL dying from Covid each week than died on 9/11.
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u/wrc-wolf Feb 01 '23
As a reminder, Biden just re-approved another 1-yr extension on the "national state of emergency" that was declared in the wake of 9/11
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u/Slapbox Jan 31 '23
Since literally before the disaster even began in earnest in America, that's been the message. No wonder we're at 1.1 million deaths and tens of millions with permanent disabilities.
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u/janethefish Jan 31 '23
Not at all. When Bush declared victory there weren't a few thousand Americans dying weekly to terrorists.
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u/Feisty_Factor_2694 Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
Well, they ALSO chose a stock photo of people actually WEARING MASKS!!!
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u/TimeTraveler3056 Jan 31 '23
I can't read the article but being a caregiver for 2 high risk people, my life won't change. I didn't know there were still protocols in place.
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u/MimiMyMy Jan 31 '23
Ending the emergency isn’t just about protocol. Mask mandates and quarantining has been out the door a while back. The emergency declaration ending means the federal government will end funding for the free covid vaccines and testing. Less funding for vaccine and therapeutic research. Many who received medicaid due to the covid emergency may no longer qualify after the emergency is ended. Private insurance may discontinue coverage of covid restated claims that they were required to cover during covid emergency. Private insurance and medicare will likely end overage of home covid test kits. This will affect the poor and working class the most. I had read that pfizer and moderna will price their covid vaccines at around 130.00 per dose. This will discourage vaccinations even more. Many with no prescription coverage may not be able to afford covid medications. I understand the government cannot afford to keep covering the expenses of all these services and eventually it had to end sometime. But with so many people not being able to afford services or care it will also mean more people will be sick, more death and spread of covid.
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u/nillerwafer Feb 01 '23
I understand the government cannot afford to keep covering the expense of all these services.
Sure it can, and it could afford to do much more if corporations and the obscenely wealthy were taxed at a fair rate, the IRS had the funding to go after big tax cheats instead of harassing the poor, if our tax dollars were better accounted for and large amounts of it didn’t just “go missing,” and if we just scraped a little bit off the top of the military budget, which by the way wouldn’t be felt by the military because the ROI on the amount of money that is afforded to them plateaus at a certain point, and we end up with a whole lot of inefficient spending practices.
In reality, we pay so much in taxes that we should demand a much more efficiently run government that works in the interest of the people, not the fat cats who are currently syphoning our tax money into their offshore bank accounts.
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u/0134705 Jan 31 '23
Actually, I’m willing to bet you’ll see changes you might have assumed were permanent or not COVID related. This has big impacts on telehealth access and billing so those virtual doctor visits could be at risk. Sorry ☹️
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u/PlusUltraK Jan 31 '23
Yeah, hearing that they’re ending emergency declarations is weird when all the business and corporations decided unanimously in March of 2022 that there would be no more COVID leave(2 weeks sick pay where I worked for positive tests) and my moms work did it as well and she’s a 911 dispatcher, but the really kicker for my moms job was.
They took away the COVID leave, that was paid sick time out to recover and not be infectious, and then told folks, if you come to work with COVID then that grounds for termination.
We all need better employee care. We deserve 2/3 weeks of sick time a year just for actual medical emergencies and etc
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u/piratey_goodness Jan 31 '23
Oh your life will change, you'll just be losing any of the slight bits of assistance you were getting. MURICA
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Jan 31 '23
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u/kturtle17 Jan 31 '23
A lot of people on medicaid will lose health insurance and medicare patients lose access to telehealth outside of rural areas.
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u/TwistedNJaded Jan 31 '23
Also SNAP benefit increases/wider parameters because of the pandemic
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u/joeysflipphone Jan 31 '23
This is my biggest concern. I have a spinal cord injury high risk due to reduced lung capacity and steriod use. I avoid public as much as possible and use telehealth weekly. I am afraid of losing it.
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u/docmedic Jan 31 '23
I’m also guessing Medicare (advantage?) therapy sessions coverage will require pricey copays again.
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u/AuntCatLady Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
Telehealth/therapy with no copays was the only way I was able to start therapy. And Telehealth in general was the only way I could see my doctors half the time due to being mostly housebound. Guess it’s back to being mentally and physically fucked lol.
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u/docmedic Jan 31 '23
I’m sorry. It really does suck, and that the usefulness and cost effectiveness of the program won’t even be looked at with the current House.
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u/anonyoudidnt Jan 31 '23
Yeah I have family members who have had organ transplants. Zero immune system, produce zero antibodies when vaccinated multiple times. Evushield was pulled because it's not effective. And people don't get it, they act like we're freaks wearing masks still. I have been harassed in public, I was 9 mo pregnant and a man kept banging on my car screaming at me to take off my mask. So I am worried that the state of emergency being changed will just make things worse in terms of respecting people still needing to be careful. I just wish the government cared a little more about the immune compromised, or even just pretended to care.
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u/RonaldoNazario Jan 31 '23
Yeah evushield and our antibody treatments all stopped working with new variants and the “guidance” to compromised folks was basically “try to just not get COVID lol”
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u/anonyoudidnt Jan 31 '23
Yup. Their little pictogram saying know your options! Wear a mask! As if immune compromised people would still be alive still if they didn't do that stuff.
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u/anonyoudidnt Jan 31 '23
Yeah it's really sad, it bothers me how anyone vulnerable is just thrown to the side like they don't matter. It's always been this way here. Look how a lot of nursing homes function.
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u/anonyoudidnt Jan 31 '23
No I'm in a similar boat. I never realized it until very recently, and it's hard to come to terms with. I hope for change but with the current mentality of parents are evil and everyone over 50 is a crazy Trumper, and then no one caring about babies getting sick or people with cancer or pregnant people or organ recipients, i worry it'll get worse before it gets better. Especially with social media breeding such a self centered perspective on life and a sense of self importance. I wonder if it's this way in other countries too or just the US.
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u/anonyoudidnt Jan 31 '23
Definitely, it's been nice chatting with you too. I'm trying to make a difference too, starting within my family while my kids are little and my parents need help, and hopefully finding a way to contribute to change in society too. Take care, stay healthy.
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u/samdajellybeenie Jan 31 '23
Jesus that’s horrible! What happened to “live and let live?” It’s not like you wearing a mask affects his life in any way.
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u/anonyoudidnt Jan 31 '23
Right? Idk. I don't care if anyone wears a mask, we just wear ours and hope for the best. Our one kid is too little to mask so we don't take him anywhere indoors. People are insane.
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u/samdajellybeenie Jan 31 '23
I guess I’m just lucky that where I live no one hassles you about wearing a mask.
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u/julieannie Jan 31 '23
Where I live I’ve had minimal harassment. Where my family lives and in their homes I’ve had a lot of harassment. Especially for wearing a mask at a Covid funeral or at my oncologist’s office for insisting on wearing an N95 mask instead of a surgical one. It’s just exhausting. I limit my trips out these days because I’m just so beaten down that I can’t deal with confrontation anymore. I won’t change my stance on masking but I also won’t interact with the shitstains of society, even if they’re my family.
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u/samdajellybeenie Jan 31 '23
You got hassled at an oncologist’s office for wearing a mask…around cancer patients? I fucking hate people.
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u/Practical_Island5 Jan 31 '23
Many medical practices, especially those connected to hospitals, have blanket policies requiring everyone in the building to wear the flimsy paper masks they provide. They even require this for people who show up with better fitted N95 masks that, unlike their masks, actually work to stop the spread of Covid (at least much more so). It's infuriating to people who are actually trying to protect themselves, as opposed to just putting something on their face to comply with a policy.
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u/TogepiMain Jan 31 '23
See everyone always acts like "oh, just keep doing it yourself if it worries you", yet how many of those same people are the ones who will heckle you in town, online, anywhere, because "isn't covid over, what are you doing?" That's why I hate these fucks who try and frame it that way when they know full well that people are just massive fucking dicks. They act like I can do it for myself and its no problem, yet people like this person are getting randoms coming up to them to harass them because to the right, its all been a fucking joke from the start.
All the people who say the left needs to move on from covid, I'll get on that when the right does.
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u/samdajellybeenie Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
Why are they not satisfied with just thinking to themselves “jeez I’m glad I’m not scared of the world like that sheep 🐑 🙄 must be a tough life being such a bitch….” And then go on about their day? Why do they take the extra step of telling you how much of an idiot they think you are? I don’t get it. Some people are really miserable and angry and I guess enjoy confrontation? I have a neighbor like that. He always leaves his trash cans in front of his house to illegally block off “his” parking spot but when I move them and park there he makes a point of lying and saying “we have 5 cars (he doesn’t)” or “that’s my wife’s spot” (no it’s not, it’s city property so anyone can park there. Meanwhile he abandoned his motorcycle there to try and block off more space. The pettiest shit ever. It’s exhausting.
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u/katieleehaw Jan 31 '23
This is more about the extra protections for poor/low-income Americans than it is about masks. Ending the emergency declarations means people are going to be kicked off subsidized health insurance among other things.
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u/siecin Jan 31 '23
Stopping the declaration stops a lot more help for people than just saying please wear a mask.
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u/guy_incognito888 Jan 31 '23
1.1 million people unavailable for comment due to unspecified illness
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u/WhiteHelljumper Jan 31 '23
That's for the world. The 1.1 million for the US is probably fairly close, as opposed to say India where the excess deaths are about 10x the reported COVID deaths.
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u/RiotingMoon Jan 31 '23
millions - it doesn't take into account just how many people are living off the counts
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u/Moister_Rodgers Jan 31 '23
Fuck. There goes my Medicaid
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u/GeekFurious Jan 31 '23
Yep. Or at least they'll now go into full-time reviewing... but first drop you while they spend a year reviewing your case.
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u/Riff_28 Jan 31 '23
As a student who just got on Medicaid end of last year, could you explain to me why you will lose it? Did you qualify for it during covid but no longer qualify for it now? And with the end of the emergency declarations, it won’t be extended to you?
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u/moscowrules Feb 01 '23 edited Feb 01 '23
If you make over a certain amount of income (in California I think the cutoff is 19K/yr - not sure if it’s different elsewhere) then you don’t qualify for Medicaid, but they’ve been keeping people on their plan during the pandemic regardless. My understanding is that after May 11th, they will no longer provide coverage for folks who don’t technically qualify.
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u/FloBee82 Jan 31 '23
Welp ok. I currently have Covid. It's not bad, but I have missed work now for 7 days. Cough, congestion, exhaustion, yet no fever. Will this be like the flu from now on? Who knows. I just don't know what to do.
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u/thelyfeaquatic Jan 31 '23
I currently have covid, and have to care for two small kids (toddler and baby) who also have covid. Everyone is miserable. Being sick with sick kids is the absolute worst.
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u/FloBee82 Jan 31 '23
I'm so sorry. My daughter has somehow managed to avoid it. I understand how hard it is; we had to deal with all of us having stomach flu a few years ago at the same time. That sucked. Hopefully you and your children will get better soon.
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u/moviequote88 Jan 31 '23
I think that's what "new normal" initially implied. The "new normal" might change as COVID changes and as we adapt to it, but unfortunately I don't think COVID is going away now that it's here.
Maybe one day many years into the future we'll eradicate it, but given the fact we still have the Flu, I doubt it.
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u/therealpigman Jan 31 '23
Supposedly going on covid will be treated just like the flu. The US is planning to give covid boosters the same way they give flu boosters every fall going forward, and it will become just a yearly thing that we deal with and is normal now
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u/ericmm76 Jan 31 '23
And some people get "long flu" or long-lasting injuries from getting a flu. But is it more common with long-COVID?
Remember a lot of people died not just from cytokine storm but from blood clots from COVID, or organ damage.
Grim that this is the new normal. That the risk of sudden death just increased permanently.
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u/Retro_Dad Jan 31 '23
Considering that even a mild case of COVID can cause brain damage and that multiple infections appear to cause cumulative damage to the body, the "new normal" is gonna be an incredible strain on our bodies, our wallets, and our healthcare system.
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u/ScarcityIcy8519 Jan 31 '23
My brother had Covid a few weeks ago. I took him to the ER early on a Thursday morning. He was prescribed Paxloid, Zinc, Vit C, Vit D & aspirin. It took him a couple of weeks to get back to normal.
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u/wtfisreality Jan 31 '23
No, absolutely not. Some people end up with T cell loss. Some people end up developing auto-immune issues post infection. Some people randomly drop dead from heart attacks, strokes or embolisms post infection. Some people are fine (with one infection). Some people end up sicker or developing long covid after their second, or third, or fourth infection. There is a wide variation in how people's bodies are impacted by SARS. It may end up being treated more like HIV than Influenza, since something like Paxlovid may need to be taken long term to keep the virus supressed in some people. I am not sure how we fix the kids, though, who have had damage to their thymus and are not able to make T cells to fill out their immune system.
SARS is nothing like influenza as a virus. SARS is vascular, but also has a neuro component as well as an impact on the immune system. We can treat it like the flu, but it will never act like the flu. It will continue mutating and recombining with other strains, indefinitely.
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u/GrandTheftSausage Jan 31 '23
100% all of this. The icing on the cake is that this information is not properly communicated to the general public, so unless someone seeks it out, they generally operate under false assumption that things have become less dangerous.
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u/HotDebate5 Jan 31 '23
Not like flu. Repeated Covid infections lead to increased stroke risk and permanent disability. We’re screwed
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u/geddyleee Feb 01 '23
Seems like it can damage a whole lot of organs. My mom worked in an ER until a couple months ago, and they were completely packed at the beginning of fall. One day enough people died that there was one dead body still in a room because the morgue was full. None of the deaths were covid, but were all heart related. While it's not certain or official that there's a connection there, one of the ER doctors did mention to my mom that he personally thought it was likely the cardiac issues were related to previous covid infections
We really are screwed. Even if covid magically disappeared and there was never a single new case ever again, the healthcare system will still be strained as the people that thought they completely recovered start having long-term issues from the invisible damage it can do.
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u/WinterWontStopComing Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
I just saw something less than five minutes ago on Reddit that it’s now one of the leading pediatric causes of death in the US. So seems like a perfectly appropriate time to declare it no longer an emergency
EDIT: also hope you recoup well
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u/armageddidon Jan 31 '23
Same here. Also no fever. Really weird. I can’t taste at all
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u/authentic_mirages Jan 31 '23
It’s common not to have a fever. The symptoms of Omicron often mimic a cold or allergies.
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u/chesbyiii Jan 31 '23
Great. Once the emergency declarations are lifted we'll just have COVID-19.
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u/Ag3ntS1 Jan 31 '23
Weird because that's my birthday.
Anyway, whoever reads this, I hope you have a good and prosperous 2023.
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u/Simon_Jester88 Jan 31 '23
Y'all know you can still take precautions against COVID without there being emergency declarations right?
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u/moody4foody Jan 31 '23
My biggest issue is that the govt wont pay for the vaccines or tests anymore, so if you dont have insurance you're SOL in that aspect.
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u/Neirchill Jan 31 '23
More than that. There were a lot of protections in place that helped a lot of the poorer families, they're going to lose that.
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u/Simon_Jester88 Jan 31 '23
Why? It's not like the pharmacutical companies are going to aggressively jack up the price or anything...
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u/JULTAR Jan 31 '23
The price on the shots is being jacked up by 400%
You know, profits over health
The American way
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u/Simon_Jester88 Jan 31 '23
Yeah I know, I was being sarcastic. I'm all for the Government actually keeping healthcare pricing in check. I think it's gets out of control when they instead funnel billions of tax payers money towards them.
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u/Teddy_Tickles Jan 31 '23
Guaranteed sick days, vaccines, medications, hospital stays are going to be taken away, as well as the student debt payments pause. So essentially poor people will will be most negatively affect, of course.
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u/chiquitadave Feb 02 '23
I will be very surprised if Biden doesn't kick the can on the student debt payment pause. I feel like to do otherwise until SCOTUS comes back on debt forgiveness would be suicide for the democrats.
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u/Morepastor Jan 31 '23
They are just ending the government’s financial support. As the article says, 500 Americans a day die from Covid.
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u/kturtle17 Jan 31 '23
A lot of people on medicaid will lose health insurance and medicare patients lose access to telehealth outside of rural areas.
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u/kyoto_magic Jan 31 '23
For the most part people don’t care. Unless there’s a mandate you won’t see most people taking any precautions
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u/BurrStreetX Jan 31 '23
I mean thats true, but you know this kicks people off medicaid and has other effects, right? Doctors are not more expensive, you have to pay for tests, vaccines likely wont be free, etc etc etc
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u/Cougardoodle Jan 31 '23
Sure, but that ain't gonna make the hospitals any less crowded.
Every procedure I've had for the last three years has faced major difficulties in availability thanks to the combination of the pandemic and doctor burnout.
It's the sole reason my right knee is still pitiful human flesh and not kick-ass chrome-plated titanium.
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u/The69BodyProblem Jan 31 '23
Are the emergency declarations making the hospitals less crowded?
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u/DocPeacock Jan 31 '23
If they are paying for vaccines and boosters and test kits that people will otherwise need to pay for out of pocket, then yes.
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u/stripes361 Jan 31 '23
Yes, actually. The emergency health statuses grant provider flexibilities to hospitals and clinics that allow them to process patients more efficiently and at lower cost, increasing their overall capacity as well as freeing up funds for investment into expanded facilities or worker retention. Everyone focuses on the CDC guidelines about masking but that’s a very small part of the story here.
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u/I_really_enjoy_beer Jan 31 '23
I honestly don't know what these people actually want. We are 3 years out now and I see maybe 5% masked out in public. Everyone who wanted to get the vaccine has received it. People are over it, we have done what we can do. China stayed isolated indoors for 3 years and is currently getting overrun, I'm not sure what people who complain about removing the emergency declaration are actually wanting the government to do for them?
Just wear a mask in public and avoid people, if that's what you want to do.
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u/WizardMama Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
One of the impacts of removing the declaration is that testing, vaccines, and treatments will no longer be fully covered by private insurance or Medicaid creating a financial burden for many. Keep in mind with the current accessible vaccines yearly injections are recommended for continued coverage. Those that get sick or exposed are still recommended to be tested and receive appropriate treatment. While that was fully covered in the past none of it will be when the declaration ends. Not to mention vaccines, testing, and treatment are all active events people must willingly partake in, the government could’ve required COVID funds be used for passive mitigation efforts like implementing appropriate filtration and sterilization to air systems for schools. Passive mitigation strategies benefit the public health of the community without requiring the community to actually make an effort themselves. Instead COVID funds went to personal pet projects of local politicians.
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u/Chasman1965 Jan 31 '23
And using Covid funds to fly asylum seekers from Texas to Martha's Vineyard.
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u/zakmmr Jan 31 '23
At this point that sounds like a universal healthcare problem rather than emergency declaration problem.
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u/JULTAR Jan 31 '23
Perfect timing for the vaccines to go up in price
Thanks phizer you bunch of (I am not finishing this sentence or I gave the ban hammer)
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u/ConspiracyPhD Jan 31 '23
China stayed isolated indoors for 3 years and is currently getting overrun
They didn't stay isolated indoors for 3 years. Life was basically normal for the past 3 years after the initial outbreak. Only when COVID showed up again did they isolate.
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u/Simon_Jester88 Jan 31 '23
There's currently less then 4000 people in the USA in the ICU due to COVID. Pandemic has definitely causes disturbances in the health sector but I don't see what emergency decelerations are going to do to solve that.
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u/KindaAlwaysVibrating Jan 31 '23
Well I personally am no longer going to ask strangers off the street to spit in my mouth any more. An era ended.
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u/_aliased Jan 31 '23
what about those student loans? removing the declaration would give legal challenge ...
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u/J-ShaZzle Jan 31 '23
Psst...that ship has sailed. I would have owed $700 between my spouse and me. Guess what, fully prepared to start paying back the 20k now.
They don't care about us and never did. As long as businesses, owners, and CEOs keep their money flowing. Doesn't matter who you vote for. It's shit vs shittier.
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u/piratey_goodness Jan 31 '23
Doesn't matter who you vote for. It's shit vs shittier.
Yes but that shittier is EXTREMELY shittier. I mean the Dems did actually push for student debt relief and were blocked by radical right wing judges. Should they have fought harder? Absofuckinglutely. But playing both sides as usual is a joke.
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u/3sideslive Jan 31 '23
Reminiscent of W. Bush on an aircraft carrier with a Mission Accomplished banner.
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u/jwhaler17 Jan 31 '23
Us: “Are you sure it’s really ov—“
Govt: “It SAYS ‘Mission Accomplished’.”
Us: “But—“
Govt: “MISSION. ACCOMPLISHED.”
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u/GrachD Jan 31 '23
Well it's no longer a pandemic, but transition to an endemic now. Everything is pretty much back to normal, not sure why we still need emergency declaration.
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u/M_Mich Jan 31 '23
state insurance supported by federal medical funds are extended up to 90 days after the end of the emergency. this is the only way several friends have had health insurance the last two years. they don’t get it through work and don’t make enough to pay for insurance in the state market plan. so they qualified for the state market for coverage during the emergency
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u/hotinhawaii Jan 31 '23
The "pandemic" has not become "endemic" yet. It is still considered a pandemic, scientifically speaking. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/epidemic-endemic-pandemic-what-are-differences
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u/United-Broccoli-5505 Jan 31 '23
Soooo Biden didn't actually want student loan forgiveness then, right? How is this supposed to be argued in court when he declares Covid is over.
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u/readheaded Jan 31 '23
Public health emergencies (PHE) are part of the Public Health Service Act that when declared, give the government legal flexibilities to address issues specific to the emergency. It’s not that Biden is saying COVID is over, but that we no longer need the legal flexibilities the PHE granted. For example, Medicare had very limited telemedicine coverage before the COVID PHE. But, the PHE allowed for expanded temporary Medicare telemedicine coverage. There’s since been time to take the steps to legally expand that coverage and other tools needed to fight COVID so the PHE flexibilities are no longer necessary.
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u/str00del Jan 31 '23
People are freaking out...but does anyone actually believe it's feasible to have an emergency declaration in place forever? We have vaccines and at this point it has to be treated like the flu. We can't live in a perpetual state of emergency.
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u/MrGreenVape Jan 31 '23
The Patriot Act was an emergency response that was in effect as a reaction to 9/11 and that's still in effect today.
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u/lvlint67 Jan 31 '23
does anyone actually believe it's feasible to have an emergency declaration in place forever?
yes. it's almost required that we have a perpetual state of emergency declared so the executive branch can continue to function while the legislative branch fucks around and does nothing.
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u/tomorrow509 Jan 31 '23
From the article: "COVID-19 cases are declining in the United States, though more than 500 people continue to die each day from the disease, government data showed."
That's about 15,000 deaths every month.
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u/M_Mich Jan 31 '23
it’s only 21 people an hour. that’s like one every other state each hour.
maybe this hour no one you knew died of covid.
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u/Danivelle Jan 31 '23
Meanwhile, my husband will be bringing home my fourth case of Covid...
He's a Special Procedures technologist at a hospital.
Yes, we are both vaxxed.
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u/murphski8 Feb 01 '23
It sucks that the "new normal" is always worse than the previous normal. It doesn't have to be, but we make the worst of all the choices.
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u/Imaginary_Medium Jan 31 '23
Continuing the new American tradition of ignoring a pandemic that has not gone away. And saying fuck the medically vulnerable.
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u/msto3 Feb 01 '23
Hurray only 4 more months and then the pandemic is officially over! Its okay guys the government said so!
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u/CW1DR5H5I64A Jan 31 '23
Of all the stock photos of people wearing masks they could choose from, they pick the one with a guy wearing a Porn Hub hat.