The end of the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 does not mean the end of the disease, New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said on Monday.
At the City Council’s executive budget hearing on health and mental health, Vasan drew attention to the end of the federal government’s public health emergency for COVID-19. After more than three years, the emergency expired on May 11, drawing to a close some of the free public health services that New Yorkers have come to rely on, including the city’s mobile test to treat sites, in-home vaccinations for homebound New Yorkers and at some point, distribution of free at-home test kits. (Many community centers and other public sites across the city are still distributing those free at-home tests while they have them, but their stockpiles will no longer be replenished by the federal government.)