In his State of the Union speech night, President Joe Biden made it clear that the Administration is moving into the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic—one in which the threats of disease and death are considerably diminished, and therefore no longer require the resources and urgent allocation of funds that the previous two years have. “While the virus is not gone...we have broken COVID’s grip on us," Biden said.

But is he right? Here's what health experts told me about the federal government's recent moves distancing the U.S. from the pandemic.

• Some winding down is justified. The U.S. government recently announced that it will end the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies in May. That's reasonable, many say, because most people have either been vaccinated or have recovered from an infection (or both), so the population’s immunity is fairly high.
• COVID-19 is not through with us. Globally, there are around 200,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths a day. The latest Omicron variants quashed any hope of the pandemic ending any time soon. While they do not cause more serious infections than past variants, they have mastered the challenge of hopping more efficiently from one infected person to another.
• We are wasting an opportunity. Even though COVID-19 cases are no longer inundating most hospitals, that means it’s time to rethink the COVID-19 response, not abandon it. The best way forward at this point is to refine and target COVID-19 services to optimize the chances of controlling the virus where it may be causing the most health problems.

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