Joe Biden has declared that the COVID pandemic is “over”

Yet many are clutching their pearls at this prospect…why?

During an interview on 60 Minutes that aired September 18, 2022, President Biden stated that, “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We're still doing a lot of work on it. It's -- but the pandemic is over.”

As a result, many are saying, correctly, that he should end the COVID-19 emergency declaration. This should provoke celebration. With a minimal contingent still walking around (pointlessly) wearing masks, we’ve weathered the storm and reached the shore. So why are many wringing their hands over the possibility of ending the national emergency?

There is a simple answer to this question - money. Money is the reason many wish the emergency to carry on. During the “pandemic,” many institutions have reaped historic profits. Hospitals have been generously compensated for Covid patients, especially those who have ended up on respirators. Average payment for Medicare patients who ended up in the hospital was (at least in 2020) $23,000, with reimbursements of approximately $40,000 for severely ill patients who ended up on a respirator. They have also been administering a record number of doses of Remdesivir, a pharmaceutical that cost hospitals in excess of $3000 per five-day course for a patient, and you know they will not take a loss for medications.

Beyond the hospitals, pharmaceutical companies have raked in a veritable fortune. Pfizer, Moderna, and others each received billions of dollars in funding and payments for the shots they developed as well as for other products such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid. Boosters are still being pushed as a prophylactic treatment for COVID-19.

What does all of this have to do with the emergency declaration? Ending the emergency declaration puts the brakes on the gravy train. All of the shots, all of the other pharmaceuticals (Remdesivir, Paxlovid) are being used to treat Covid under FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).  If the emergency declaration ends, all of the EUAs end as well. As a result, since none of these pharmaceuticals have been through the full FDA approval process, treatments requiring these pharmaceuticals will end. Even COVID-19 testing would come to a halt, as all of the tests are being used under EUA. This would mean a significant decrease in revenues for hospitals, and more so, this would deal a devastating blow to the pharmaceutical giants and the test manufacturers.

Don’t think for a moment that wanting to keep the emergency declaration in place has anything to do with public safety - it has only to do with balance sheets. It’s never about your health; it’s always about the money.