A new normal? 6 stories about the evolving U.S. COVID response in 2023

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/19/ [login to see] /a-new-normal-6-stories-about-the-evolving-u-s-covid-response-in-2023
In spring 2023, COVID hospitalizations and deaths hit their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic. Masks came off and schools and some workplaces were back in person. The nation emerged from the three-year COVID nightmare – and entered a tentative, new normal.

And with the official end of the federal public health emergency in May, the U.S. health care system reverted to the way it usually works: People's health insurance, or lack of it, once again dictates their access to COVID-related tests, vaccines and soon – in 2024 – to treatments.

"Our health care system has well-known and documented disparities," says Dr. Mandy Cohen, who took the helm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July. "So when we go back to the 'normal course of business,' it doesn't make for the equitable distribution of things."