While the Republican Party, which secured leadership in the House of Representatives, announced its policy to investigate the Biden government’s response to Corona 19, the US government further extended the Corona 19 public health emergency on the 11th.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that it is re-extending the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days.
The United States first declared a public health emergency in January 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and has since been extended in increments of 90 days.
If the state of emergency remains, COVID-19 tests, vaccines, and treatments can be provided free of charge to the public.
In the United States, based on the Public Health Act, in the event of an emergency due to a serious illness, the Secretary of Health and Welfare can declare a public health emergency for 90 days to mobilize resources necessary for response, and the period can be extended if necessary.
If it ends, it is expected that there will be big changes in medical insurance, drug approval, and telemedicine.
In this regard, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to give advance notice to hospitals 60 days before the end of the state of emergency.
Accordingly, if the US government decides not to extend the state of emergency further, it is expected that the related policy will be announced next month.
An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare told the US media, “The decision to suspend the corona public health emergency will be made by the Minister of Health and Welfare based on data and science.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of the 4th, the number of confirmed cases per day in the United States was 67,000, and about 390 deaths were counted as corona-related deaths.
The Republican Party, which has criticized the Biden government’s corona quarantine policy, launched an investigation into the government’s corona response in the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives, led by the Republican Party, formed a special subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic on the 9th.
The so-called is planning to investigate the theory of corona origin in China, vaccine development, quarantine measures such as school closures, and emergency funding from the federal government.
It is known that the subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing around February for former and current government officials regarding the response to Corona 19.