With 400+ dying every day in US
Source: (
https://bit.ly/3dtwl20)
During an interview aired by CBS News on Sunday, US President Joe
Biden said that while coronavirus is still a problem, circumstances
are changing and "everybody seems to be in pretty good shape," in
remarks sure to generate controversy.
Speaking to the news show "60 Minutes", "We still have a problem
with Covid. We're still doing a lotta work on it. But the pandemic
is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to
be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing."
A week ago, the World Health Organization declared that the end
of the pandemic was "in sight", after revealing that weekly deaths
were at the lowest level since March 2020.
However, it cautioned that coronavirus still posed an "acute global
emergency" and highlighted that during the first eight months
of 2022 more than 1 million people died from Covid-19.
As soon as the show was aired on Sunday night, the Republicans
raised questions regarding the renewal of the public health emergency
and said that if the pandemic is over then why would the
administration renew its ongoing public health emergency.
That emergency declaration, which is set to expire next month, has
allowed federal officials to pursue flexible solutions amid the
crisis, including rapidly authorizing new Covid treatments and
keeping many Americans covered by Medicaid, the safety-net health
programme.
If the government ends its emergency declaration, then 15.8 million
Americans would lose their Medicaid coverage, The Washington Post
reported, citing Urban Institute, a think tank that conducts economic
and social policy research.
The administration for months has maintained that the virus is on
the retreat, citing the growing availability of vaccines, tests and
treatments to fight it and the population's expanding immunity.
