With months of continued nationwide decline of COVID-19 infections and deaths, federal emergencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic that have been in place for over three years are set to expire on Thursday.
Initially, a public health emergency was declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on Jan. 31, 2020, with President Donald Trump later declaring the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency on March 1, 2020.
The expiration of the emergencies particularly spell upcoming changes for costs related to COVID-19 treatment, vaccines and testing, as private insurance companies will no longer be required to cover care and testing free of charge.
Chicago health officials said COVID-19 vaccines will remain available for all Chicagoans ages 6 months and up at pharmacies, doctors' offices, hospitals, community health centers, city-operated clinics and the mobile CareVan.
For as long as the city's supply of federally purchased COVID-19 vaccines remain available, all vaccines will be free to Chicagoans, regardless of insurance coverage.
While at-home antigen tests and lab-based PCR tests will continue to be available around Chicago, they will no longer be at no cost to everyone.
While Medicare and Medicaid will continue to cover the costs of PCR tests, private insurance companies may require co-pays for them.
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Select pharmacies and health clinics will continue to offer free PCR tests through funding from CDC for those without insurance.
Coverage for COVID-19-related care will likely be largely dependent on an individual's health insurance coverage, and those who are insured are encouraged to contact their health insurance provider to learn about changes in their coverage.
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The expiration of the federal emergencies comes days after the World Health Organization declared that the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a public health emergency last week.
Significant changes are also on the horizon for Medicaid patients, as the automatic re-enrollment process ends with the expiration of the federal emergencies.
Medicaid renewals were temporarily paused by Congress at the start of the pandemic. But as COVID-19 emergency declarations ended this year, Medicaid users in all 50 states must now reapply to renew coverage.
Illinoisans on Medicaid grew during the pandemic from 2.9 million users, thanks to the federal “continuous coverage” law that bypassed the need for renewals.
In addition to changes in coverage for COVID-19 related ailments, Illinois health officials are also changing the way COVID-19 data is reported.
Last week, officials announced that community level data for each county in the state will no longer be reported after the end of the federal emergency on May 11.
Additionally, hospitals will no longer be required to report the number of patients who are in the ICU or on ventilators with COVID-19.
State health officials will continue to report COVID-19 hospital admissions, cases, deaths and weekly vaccination data after the end of the federal emergency, with wastewater surveillance continuing to monitor COVID-19 and influenza.
While global and federal emergencies are concluding, health officials are cautioning that it does not mean that the virus is eradicated, with the general public advised to still exercise caution.
Dr. Sameer Vohra, the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, sees the expiration of the emergencies as the beginning of a new era of public health.
"If you're in a vulnerable group, it's still important to be and use those protective measures as much as possible, to protect yourself, protect your loved ones. But I think it's a good moment for us to say that you know, we're a new normal and we're writing new chapters in the story of public health," Vohra told NBC Chicago.
