COVID-19 Public Health Emergency coming to an end

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Thursday, May 11 will mark more than three years of the U.S. being under an emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We as a health department, we don’t stop just because May 11 is marked on the calendar,” said Shawnna Rhine with Southern 7 Health Department.

President Biden signed a bill last month terminating the national emergency.

“We’re going to be seeing folks looking at their healthcare a little bit differently,” Rhine said. “First off, we’re going to see an end to some of the free services they had during the pandemic, such as vaccinations, treatment and some other services.”

According to the CDC, insurance providers will no longer be required to waive costs or provide free COVID-19 tests.

Medication to prevent severe COVID-19, such as Paxlovid, will remain available for free while supplies last. After that, the price will be determined by the medication manufacturer and your health insurance coverage.

“Basically, if a person has had Medicaid during COVID, they automatically got that renewed each year during COVID, but now they have to go back and renew annually,” Rhine said.

And if you use SNAP, you may receive less money for food from the government.

“During COVID, those SNAP benefits went up,” Rhine said. “Well, those have gone back down.”

When it comes to healthcare, Rhine said they’re prepared to give the best care they can, but are still figuring out the future protocol.

“We are not quite sure what the future is going to look like with COVID-19,” Rhine said. “We are anticipating though, that we’ll be looking at it in terms like we deal with the flu, cold and so on.”

Rhine added that they are still waiting on guidance from the state as well as the CDC, but once they get more information, they will share it with everyone.

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