Biden administration extends COVID-19 public health emergency yet again

The White House Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended the COVID-19 state of emergency.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the decision Wednesday through a statement titled, “Renewal of the Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists.”

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US Department of Health and Human Services in Washington on July 13, 2020. (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The full text of the statement reads:

“As a result of the ongoing effects of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, on this date and after consultation with public health officials as appropriate, I, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, pursuant to the authority of given. in me, pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, renew, effective January 11, 2023, the January 31, 2020, designation by former Secretary Alex M. Azar II, which he previously renewed on April 21, 2020, 23 July 2020, October 2, 2020, and January 7, 2021, and that I renewed on April 15, 2021, July 19, 2021, October 15, 2021, January 14, 2022, April 12, 2022, July 12 and 15, October 13, 2022, than a health emergency public exists and has existed since January 27, 2020, throughout the country”.

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HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks in Washington, DC, on June 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

President Biden said during a television interview in September 2022 that the COVID-19 pandemic is “over.”

“Is the pandemic over?”, a reporter asked Biden. “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it,” Biden responded.

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Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden attend a meeting of the Task Force on Access to Reproductive Health Care at the White House on October 4, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden made the statement during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which was his first interview with a news organization in seven months.

“If you notice, nobody’s wearing a mask, everybody looks like they’re in pretty good shape,” Biden added as he walked through the Detroit auto show.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and you can email him at [email protected]