I’m sure you’ll be glad to know the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the end to the Covid-19 emergency, signaling that one of the deadliest and economically devastating pandemics in modern history is over. By the reactions of most people to wearing masks, personal distancing, and travel in crowded buses and airplanes, this is not really news.
The WHO lost much of its credibility a long time ago at the beginning of this pandemic when they first reassured us there was nothing to worry about, then changed their minds when it was obvious we were experiencing a pandemic. They also aligned themselves with the notoriously untrustworthy Chinese government to reassure us the virus didn’t come from a lab leak in Wuhan. That theory has been widely debunked by now.
This WHO declaration doesn’t really change much, but it does mark a long-awaited milestone, signaling the pandemic is reaching a new stage after more than three years of tragedy and deprivation. Betsy McKay and Brianna Abbott, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tell us more than 6.9 million people have died globally, according to the WHO. In the U.S. alone, the death toll is more than 1.1 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and many others have lingering health problems after infection.
Although these numbers have been highly criticized due to the fact that hospitals routinely report Covid deaths in patients who died of other causes, but tested positive for Covid, that’s still a lot of deaths. Covid-19 was the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2022 behind heart disease, Cancer, and unintentional injuries including overdoses, according to the CDC. It was the third leading cause of death in 2020 and 2021.
The authors say, “The pandemic has shattered an illusion that humanity has control over its environment. It has wrought significant, often wrenching changes in science, politics and international relations, as well as lessons for global public-health systems. Researchers and public-health officials established global disease surveillance capabilities during the past three years that can be used for future disease monitoring, including wastewater surveillance and genome sequencing.”
That’s the good news. But the bad news is the public has lost trust in public-health officials who promised results with masks, lockdowns of businesses and schools, and vaccines that would prevent illness. When all these promises proved false, the credibility of these officials plummeted. Governments and medical providers are less equipped in many ways to fight disease threats than they were before the pandemic. The next pandemic could be worse.
“The public’s trust in data and in science and vaccines has taken a hit, and it’s been very polarized,” said Dr. Jennifer Kates, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It raises the risk of what happens when there’s another pandemic.”
While the pandemic may be over, Covid continues to make its mark. More than 17,000 deaths were reported globally in the past month, according to the WHO. There were about 1,050 reported in the U.S. in the week ending in April 26th. Most of those who are dying are elderly or have conditions that weaken their immune systems.
The U.S. ended its Covid-19 national emergency in April and its public-health emergency will be lifted May 11. That means full insurance coverage for Covid-19 tests won’t be mandatory in many cases and the CDC won’t have the power to collect some test and vaccination data. It also means those who have been kept on Medicaid despite being financially ineligible will lose their coverage. People can get free vaccines and treatments until the government stockpile runs out.
