COVID-19 Is No Longer a Public Health Emergency: Implications for Patients and Clinicians

Thankfully, the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic appear to be behind us. We are in a much better place today than at any time in the past 3 years as evidenced by both the United States and the World Health Organization recently declaring that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency. But that does not mean we can forget about the virus.

On 19 May 2023, Annals of Internal Medicine and the American College of Physicians assembled a panel of experts in public health and infectious diseases to discuss the COVID-19–related challenges that remain for clinicians and patients. Panelists included Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, the White House Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response; Roger Bedimo, MD, Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Infectious Diseases Section Chief at the VA North Texas Health Care System; and Carlos del Rio, MD, the Leon L. Haley Jr. MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and Interim Dean at Emory University School of Medicine. Michael J. Tan, MD, moderated the discussion. Dr. Tan is Professor of Internal Medicine at NEOMED, lead physician for Summa Health Medical Group–Infectious Disease, and Assistant Medical Director at SummaCare. Video of this program is available at Annals.org.