Biden Extends Covid Public Health Emergency While States Move On

The federal public health emergency for Covid-19 will be in effect for at least the next 60 days, with Department of Health and Human Services officials not yet signaling an end date.

The Biden administration has promised to give states 60 days’ notice when a decision is reached. The current declaration ends in mid-January, a time that health policy experts mark as risky for the administration to relinquish regulatory flexibility given projected increases in Covid-19 infections, the flu and the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

“We’re already seeing obviously tremendous strain on the healthcare system right now,” said Wendy Parmet, ...