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COVID-19 public health emergency expires Thursday night. What does that mean?

At midnight, the country’s final public health emergency declaration for COVID-19 will expire, marking what many are calling “the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.” That of course doesn’t mean the disease no longer exists. In fact, it’s killing more than 150 Americans a day.

But infectious disease experts say it has entered an endemic phase, and can now be managed with precautions and treatments. But the end of the declaration will have implications for most Americans, including changes in the cost and availability of tests, vaccines and treatment.

Here & Now host Robin Young talks to Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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