On January 30, 2023, the White House announced its plan to extend the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (PHE) declarations until May 11, 2023, and then end both emergencies on that date.

In the announcement, the White House emphasized that the extension of the emergency declarations does not impose any COVID-19 restrictions on individual conduct, but instead allows for a necessary wind-down process.

The White House discussed its opposition to the enactment of H.R. 382 and H.J. Res. 7, arguing that these bills would end the emergency declarations too abruptly and cause “highly significant impacts on our nation’s health system and government operations.” This would include “wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system.”

The White House further argued that during the PHE, Medicaid provided extra funding to states to ensure that Americans were able to keep their Medicaid coverage during the pandemic. If the PHE was suddenly terminated, it would put millions of Americans at risk of losing their health insurance and states at risk of losing significant funding. Additionally, the emergency declarations provide flexibility to hospitals and nursing homes that would likely suffer disruptions and revenue losses if they are not given adequate time to adjust. Patients who have come to rely on access to their physicians through telehealth would also lose access to critical care.

Ending the PHE will end the Title 42 policy at the border, which has been used to expel migrants throughout the pandemic. The White House discussed its support of terminating the Title 42 policy and lifting its restrictions, but emphasized the importance of an “orderly, predictable wind-down of Title 42, with sufficient time to put alternative policies in place.” According to the White House, lifting Title 42 without a wind-down period would also allow “thousands of migrants per day into the country immediately without the necessary policies in place.”

The White House statement can be found here.