Local Covid testing sites prepare for emergency declarations to end

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -Local Covid sites are hoping to adjust following the Biden administration’s announcement to end emergency declarations.

Several emergency measures put in place back in 2020 are set to end on May 11, almost three years after going into effect. The impacts include an end to free testing and additional Covid treatments along with other precautions started at the beginning of the pandemic.

What this means is that resources like Covid testing will no longer be free, and i

It will also require a doctor’s order for testing and other treatments for Covid that were previously free will now come at a cost.

Officials with the FAMU testing site say they’ve been expecting this announcement for a while now, however now that there’s an official date attached, it leaves little time to actually come up with a plan for what local resources will look like moving forward.

“We all recognize that Covid isn’t going away, and we have to find a way to incorporate it into our regular medical practices. Additionally, there’s no more funding to continue the extraordinary measures, so that is a big piece of it also,” said Tanya Tatum, the Director of student health services at FAMU.

Famu student health services director Tanya Tatum says while she sees this as a sign of Covid becoming an everyday custom she doesn’t want people to forget that Covid is still very real.

Tatum says the FAMU site is still testing around 100-200 people a day While vaccinations are sitting at about 5-12 people a day.

Now she says even though those numbers are a little low she still believes testing and the vaccine are important resources that she’s hoping to still be able to provide even after the emergency declarations end.

Copyright 2023 WCTV. All rights reserved.