President Biden to End COVID-19 Emergencies in May Transcript

President Biden says the official COVID emergency orders will be lifted by May 11th.

Leading health experts say that doesn’t mean COVID is no longer a concern.

Queen City News reporter, Savannah Rudicel, is live near Novant Health in Charlotte’s Elizabeth neighborhood with their advice. Savannah, good morning.

Good morning, Jason and Ann Wyatt. While government officials say it’s time to start treating COVID as an endemic, some public health officials say that it’s still a concern, and even at the emergency level. Now, just this week, leaders with the World Health Organization got together in Geneva. They said that COVID is at a “transition point”. That’s where they feel like the pandemic is, and not ready to classify that as an endemic just yet. They say there is no doubt that the population is in a much better place than it was a year ago, when Omicron spread was at its peak. However, they say they still have their concerns.

But since the beginning of December, weekly reported deaths have been rising. In the past eight weeks, more than 170,000 people have lost their lives to COVID-19. And that’s just the reported deaths. We know the actual number is much higher.

Moving forward, the WHO officials recommend that countries keep improving their disease surveillance and their healthcare systems. They also suggest that people include COVID vaccines into routine and yearly care. Now, this week, the House Oversight Committee will be investigating claims into fraud and possible waste of taxpayer dollars, when it comes to using COVID relief funds. Now, coming up here in our next half hour, we’ll take a look at North Carolina’s Relief Funds, and where those billions of dollars have gone so far. Reporting live in Charlotte, Savannah Rudicel, Queen City News.

COVID cases are declining in the Carolinas. New infections were down 15% in the Tar Heel state last week. South Carolina health leaders are reporting an 18% decrease in new cases during the same time period. Data shows more than 13 billion doses of COVID vaccines have been administered worldwide.