COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends: What It Means For Testing, Vaccines In Illinois

ILLINOIS — More than three years after the first COVID-19 case was reported, the federally mandated pandemic-related emergency will come to an end on Thursday.

A new Illinois law means that healthcare workers, including pharmacists, who have been issued temporary out-of-state licenses can keep working in Illinois after the end of coronavirus-related emergency declarations. The bill also allows registered pharmacy technicians and student pharmacists to continue to administer COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots.

State Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield), who sponsored the bill, has said Illinois' shortage of healthcare workers would be worse if state officials had not implemented any pandemic-related emergency measures.

While COVID-19 cases have steadily declined both nationally and across Illinois in recent months, some mandates – such as face coverings being required at hospitals, medical and dental facilities, and other venues have remained in place.

But beginning Thursday, the mask requirements and other pandemic precautions will taper off as health officials, both with the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and at state and local health departments, begin to put the three-year health crisis behind them.

As of Thursday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that none of Illinois’ 102 counties are at an elevated community risk for COVID-19. Four counties were listed at a medium risk level last week, health officials said but added that last week was the seventh straight week that no Illinois counties were listed in the high-risk category, health officials announced.

The state health department is reporting 3,850 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois and five deaths in the week ending April 30, state health officials announced last week. IDPH recorded a total of 4,135,808 cases and 36,850 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois since the beginning of the pandemic.

However, health officials are warning that while COVID-19 measures have started to wind down, it doesn’t mean Illinois residents are free and clear from the virus. Some hospitals and medical centers will still encourage masks to be worn, especially by those whose immune systems are compromised. But while federal agencies may be changing the way they deal with some aspects of the global pandemic, the possibility of contracting COVID-19 isn’t going away, health officials said.

“Even though the emergency is ending, COVID is not over. And we are not considering COVID over in Chicago, but we are at a different point in terms of risk and there’s nobody happier than me that COVID does not have to be top of mind every day, at all times,” Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said in a statement.

In addition to mask requirements going away, insurance companies across Illinois and the country will, in most cases, no longer cover the cost of COVID-19 tests. The federal government had been offering free tests through the mail for anyone who requested them, but federal health officials will no longer require insurance companies to cover them for residents.

Individual insurance companies will have the option of whether they will cover the costs of tests. Some bigger companies, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, will no longer cover the cost for customers.

PCR testing will continue to take place at local medical centers and at most pharmacies, but most insurance companies will no longer cover the cost of the tests.

Vaccines will also continue to be offered free of charge at many locations as many insurance carriers, along with Medicare and Medicaid, will continue to cover the cost for residents to get boosters and shots as needed.

As of April 19, the CDC recommends a second bivalent booster for those age 65 and older, IDPH said. Those who are immune compromised are eligible for a second bivalent booster if it's been at least two months since their first.

Health officials across the country and in Illinois have continually preached the importance of vaccines in limiting the spread of the virus.

In Illinois, state health officials said that they will continue to provide certain data, but said that some reporting will change. For example.

• Hospitals will no longer be required to report the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital beds or in the ICU or on ventilators.
• IDPH will continue to report weekly COVID-19 vaccination data.
• Data on COVID-19 and the flu will also continue to be reported via the Illinois Waste Water Surveillance System dashboard.

“IDPH will continue its focus on protecting the public from COVID-19, especially those individuals who are vulnerable to serious illness,” IDPH Director Sameer Vohra said in a news release. “With the World Health Organization’s news today of the end of the global health emergency, as well as the national public health emergency and statewide disaster declarations ending in less than a week, it is very good news that cases remain low.”