Changes in COVID-19 protocols as public health emergency ends.

The public health emergency for COVID-19 will end on May 11, which will impact the availability and cost of at-home COVID-19 tests, but vaccines will remain free for people with and without insurance. Medicare beneficiaries will not face cost-sharing requirements for certain COVID-19 pharmaceutical treatments, such as the antiviral Paxlovid, after May 11, as long as those doses were purchased by the federal government. The Drug Enforcement Administration is extending public health emergency flexibilities for prescribing controlled medications via telemedicine. The lab reporting requirement goes away with the end of the public health emergency, but hospitals will continue to report data on hospitalized COVID-19 patients and number of N95 masks.