Although you may have forgotten it even existed, officially, COVID-19 lost its status as a global health emergency on May 5th, 2023. Six days later, President Biden declared the emergency over on the national level.

Due to lowering trends of cases, and a significant return to normality globally, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee discussed the virus for the 15th time. In the end, they determined the declaration of a health emergency should end.

Experts and health organizations clarify that this does not mean the disease has not disappeared. Billions of people still have not received a single dose, and people are still dying from the disease.

And even though society has already made much progress toward normality, you might see even more changes. You may see that your health providers are taking off their masks while meeting with you. You may see yourself won’t have to wear a mask.

However, most of these changes will be bureaucratic changes. Biden ending the health emergency in the US is an example. WHO’s decision to end the emergency further allowed national leaders to end their countries’ emergencies.

Additionally, the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that WHO could very well declare another emergency. He said that society must learn from this pandemic. 

He stated, “One of the greatest tragedies of Covid-19 is that it didn’t have to be this way.” To prevent another disaster like this again, we must use our tools. More importantly, we must coordinate with the world, as pandemics are world emergencies.