Oppose Ending the National and Public Health Emergency Declarations
President Joe Biden
Important pandemic protections would end in May under a plan just announced by President Biden to terminate two emergency declarations guaranteeing essential COVID care to all.
Ending the declarations while COVID-19 continues to rage, killing several thousand people each week, will endanger our nation – and especially the elderly, the disabled, spoonies, people who are immunocompromised, COVID-19 long haulers, and everyone who is uninsured or underinsured. Everyone needs safe and affordable access to health care and preventive tools, but many will not be able to afford COVID treatments, tests, and vaccines when the US pandemic emergency policies end.
On January 30, 2023, the World Health Organization determined that the global pandemic emergency is continuing and that all governments should ensure that their residents receive appropriate protection and care. In the US, where extremely low vaccination levels confront increasingly infectious COVID variants, the act of prematurely ending the two national emergency declarations will endanger Americans immediately – and undermine the nation’s ability to ever contain this pandemic.
After more than 250,000 reported COVID deaths in 2022, the US has nearly 15,000 reported COVID-19 deaths this January alone. More than 100 million people in the US face a high risk of losing their health or lives to COVID-19. This was clearly explained in an April 2022 open letter to the CDC Director, signed by over 100 medical professionals, scientists, and public health leaders and advocates. In addition, with as many as 23 million people suffering from Long Covid, it’s increasingly evident that more Americans are becoming disabled every day.
Some of the many changes that will devastate our country if the emergency declarations are ended include:
- The federal government will stop covering the cost of tests, vaccines, and treatment for COVID-19 – so drug companies, drugstores, and hospitals will charge whatever they wish. Expected prices for Covid-19 shots are $82- $130 each, and emergency room and hospital care will cost thousands of dollars.
- High deductibles and copayment requirements will burden many people with PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE, MEDICARE and even MEDICAID, deterring testing, boosters and treatment when infected.
- Millions of UNINSURED people will be unable to afford testing, treatments, and vaccines. At least 31 million US residents were uninsured in 2020, and the uninsured population will likely soar higher this year. (A recent law ends protections in place since 2020 and lets states start in April to kick as many as 15 million people off of Medicaid.)
- If many uninsured, underinsured, and high-risk people go without vital COVID care, this ever more contagious virus will endanger others, too. Many people will be harmed and disabled, and the pandemic will worsen.
Source: CNN
If you want to protect our country – and especially our most vulnerable communities – by promoting comprehensive prevention and extending the two emergency declarations, please sign our petition to the White House.
Petition by
Sponsored by
Additional Sponsors
To:
President Joe Biden
From:
[Your Name]
Dear President Biden,
Many thousands of people are STILL becoming disabled every week from Long COVID. Nearly 15,000 Americans have died from COVID-related illnesses during the month of January 2023 alone. Clearly, this pandemic is still an emergency.
On behalf of the millions of people in this country who are at especially high risk for COVID-19 complications and deaths, we urge you to please extend the National Emergency and Public Health Emergency declarations to provide crucial health care access for all. Further, we urge you to promote comprehensive, multi-layered measures to prevent transmission of COVID.
We believe that ending the federal emergency declarations will exacerbate the nation’s continuing health crisis. If people can’t afford tests and vaccines, progress in the pandemic will unravel.
Some of the many changes that will devastate our country if the emergency declarations are ended include:
• The federal government will stop covering the cost of tests, vaccines, and treatment for COVID-19 – so drug companies, drugstores, and hospitals will charge whatever they wish. Expected prices for Covid-19 shots are $82- $130 each, and emergency room and hospital care will cost thousands of dollars.
• High deductibles and copayment requirements will burden many people with PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE, MEDICARE and even MEDICAID, deterring testing, boosters and treatment when infected.
• Millions of UNINSURED people will be unable to afford testing, treatments, and vaccines. At least 31 million US residents were uninsured in 2020, and the uninsured population will likely soar higher this year. (A recent law ends protections in place since 2020 and lets states start in April to kick as many as 15 million people off of Medicaid.)
• If many uninsured, underinsured, and high-risk people go without vital COVID care, this ever more contagious virus will endanger others, too. Many people will be harmed and disabled, and the pandemic will worsen.
Source: CNN
We know you are deeply compassionate towards people in suffering and pain. We hope you will reconsider this drastic policy change, and not give in to those who would wish away the continuing tragedy.
We are a grassroots organization of people struggling to keep our families, our neighbors and ourselves safe from this disabling and deadly virus. Founded by writer/photographer Julie Lam, our mission is to encourage universal masking as part of a multi-layered approach in mitigation measures against COVID-19. Our members include people who must travel and work on the front lines. Many members of the medical community are with us. These wonderful folks are exposed to the virus on a daily basis, and the proposed policy changes would leave them even more at risk. We urge you to recognize that prematurely ending the National and Public Health Emergencies will cause numerous Americans to needlessly suffer and die.
Thank you, President Biden, for considering this urgent request to continue protecting our country and its most vulnerable people.
Most sincerely,
The MaskTogetherAmerica Community