The World Heath Organization has announced that Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, more than three years after declaring the emergency.
World Health Organization finally declares Covid is 'over' more than 3 years after pandemic began |Post Millennial - Jarryd Jaeger:
May 5, 2023 - "On Friday, the World Health Organization [WHO] declared that Covid-19 was no longer a global health emergency. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu's announcement comes nearly three and a half years after the virus was first labeled a public health emergency of international concern.
"'The Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern,' Tedros said, according to the BBC. 'I've accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency.'
"Tedros noted that the announcement should not be taken to mean the virus no longer poses a risk. 'The worst thing any country can do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,' he warned.
"In a statement, the WHO highlighted the fact that the pandemic had 'prompted countries to enhance their functional capacities, particularly related to emergency coordination, collaborative surveillance, clinical care, and risk communications and communication engagement'.... 'Reaching the point where COVID-19 can be considered as no longer constituting a PHEIC should be seen as an accolade to international coordination and commitment to global health.'"
A symbolic end to the COVID pandemic | Sky News, May 5, 2023:
WHO Declares Global COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Over. It's been over for most Americans for a long time already | Reason - Ronald Bailey:
May 5, 2023 - "The global COVID-19 health emergency is now over, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).... This is old news in the United States. The national COVID-19 emergency was officially terminated by a joint resolution of Congress and signed by President Joe Biden on April 10.... Nevertheless, the fact is that the pandemic was effectively over for most Americans well before the declarations made by Congress and the WHO.
"Back in December 2021, I reported on an article in the journal BMJ by two researchers who noted that 'the end of the pandemic will not be televised.' In their article, Princeton historian David Robertson and University of Maryland pharmacy professor Peter Doshi ... asked, 'By what metric, then, will we know that it is actually over?' After reviewing the history of three 20th century influenza pandemics, including the Spanish flu ... Robertson and Doshi argued that ... the pandemic will 'gradually fade as society adjusts to living with the new disease agent and social life returns to normal.' Basically, epidemics socially end when people grow tired of panic mode and learn to live with a disease.
"As the vaccines rolled out and the risks associated with infection became clearer, most Americans felt increasingly comfortable returning to normal activities — shopping, dining out, and attending social gatherings — by the spring of 2021. It's taken our global and domestic public health authorities two years more to formally acknowledge that for most Americans, the COVID-19 emergency has been long over."
Read more: https://reason.com/search/Covid%20emergency/
No comments:
Post a Comment