COVID Three Years On — End of an Emergency

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walawlibrary

7 min readApr 21, 2023

A group of four people who are dressed casually sit in some grass and laugh.

Three years ago, the world faced an unprecedented health crisis in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of early April, more than 750 million cases of COVID have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) and almost 7 million people have died from the virus. The threat of the virus set into motion many emergency orders and responses on the local, state, and federal levels and caused disruption to daily life across the country and the globe.

The federal public health emergency is set to expire on May 11. What does this mean and who is affected? Will information still be available online for researchers? In the early days of the pandemic the library published posts providing information and resources on COVID-19, public health law, vaccination laws, masking, remote notary services, pandemic challenges for court interpreters, and eviction. We encourage our readers to continue to use these resources for historical research on COVID related legal issues.

For researchers visiting the Washington State Law Library research room, another available resource is the HeinOnline COVID-19: Pandemics Past and Present database which provides materials on the economic, global, health care, and societal impacts of COVID. The database also has subcollections that compile scholarly articles on COVID-19 and material on past pandemics and vaccination.

A list in white text is printed on a dark blue background. The title at the top reads, “COVID-19 Response Milestones.” A blue graphic of the State of Washington sits below the title. A list of milestones are shown on the right and a list of dates and a yellow timeline bar are on shown on the left. — Washington’s COVID’s emergency ended October 31, 2022. In announcing the news, Governor Jay Inslee’s office published this list of Washington’s COVID milestones.

We have compiled resources here that answer questions about the end of the public health emergency as well as provide information to researchers looking for COVID data, government responses to the public health emergency, remote legal proceedings information, policy and legal analysis, and more.

Public Health Emergency Expiration

The End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: Details on Health Coverage and Access (Kaiser Family Foundation)

What Happens When COVID-19 Emergency Declarations End? Implications for Coverage, Costs, and Access (Kaiser Family Foundation)

10 Things to Know About the Unwinding of the Medicaid Continuous Enrollment Provision (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Health and Human Services COVID-19 Public Health Emergency page

Health and Human Services COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Transition Roadmap Fact Sheet

Health and Human Services End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Fact Sheet

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS Waivers, Flexibilities, and the Transition Forward from the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Fact Sheet

Medicare Rights Center’s What to Know Before the Public Health Emergency Ends in May

Washington Health Care Authority’s Apple Health and the Public Health Emergency

Washington LawHelp Changes to Apple Health (Medicaid) after the public health emergency ends

Washington LawHelp Changes to food stamps after the public health emergency ends

U.S. Food & Drug Administration FAQs: What happens to EUAs when a public health emergency ends?

National Conference of State Legislature News — States Handling Lots of Moving Parts as COVID Emergency Ends

Congressional Research Service Insight — Effects of Terminating the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) PHE and NEA Declarations

Financial Aid-

U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief and Federal Student Aid

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators News — Biden to End Pandemic’s Emergency Declaration on May 11. Here’s What It Means for Financial Aid

Federal and State Government COVID Portals

COVID.gov

We Can Do This

CDC COVID-19

Washington State Department of Health COVID-19

An online COVID-19 data tracker is shown. A map of the United States and a list of several countries are displayed in black, gray, white, and red. — Many tracked cases in the early days of the pandemic. Data trackers continue to operate despite the lower number of COVID cases.

COVID Data

Washington State Department of Health Respiratory Illness Data Dashboard

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID Data Tracker

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center (data repositories covering Jan. 22, 2020 to March 10, 2023)

World Health Organization Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard

Our World in Data Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)

Kaiser Family Foundation Global COVID-19 Tracker

National Center for Health Statistics Long COVID Household Pulse Survey

Legal and Government Response

COVID-19 Law Lab — “The COVID-19 Law Lab gathers and shares legal documents from 190+ countries across the globe, helping states establish and implement strong legal frameworks to manage the pandemic. Our goal is to ensure that the laws being implemented in one country are accessible and known to all countries.”

COVID19 Litigation Open-Access Case Law Database — “The Covid-19 Litigation Project traces and make accessible in a dedicated Database the litigation stemming all over the world from challenges related to public health measures adopted within the pandemic.”

COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker (European Center for Not-for-Profit Law and International Center for Not-For-Profit Law) — “The COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker monitors government responses to the pandemic that affects civic freedoms and human rights, focusing on emergency laws.”

Global Monitor of COVID-19´s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) — “The Global Monitor of COVID-19’s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights is a qualitative monitor and a ‘one-stop-shop’ online global monitoring tool/of the democracy and human rights implications of measures adopted by governments around the world in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.”

Global Right to Information Rating’s COVID-19Tracker (Access Info Europe and Centre for Law and Democracy) — This page contains a compilation of legal measures which temporarily alter or even suspend right to information (RTI) obligations due to COVID-19. No longer updated.

Oxford’s COVID-19 Government Response Tracker — “This tool aims to track and compare policy responses around the world, rigorously and consistently.” Updates were discontinued at the end of 2022 and data review will continue into 2023.

Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 — A global academic project mapping legal responses to Covid-19 — “The Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 (LAC19) project provides a scholarly report and analysis of national legal responses to Covid-19 around the world.”

The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to Covid-19 — “The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to Covid-19 is a global academic collaboration mapping legal responses to Covid-19 in dozens of participating countries and territories.”

NCSL State Action on Coronavirus (COVID-19) database — “The National Conference of State Legislatures brings you up-to-date, real-time information about bills related to and responding to COVID-19 that have been introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

The Network for Public Health Law COVID-19 Resources — “Public health agencies, health care workers, emergency managers, and policymakers are grappling with core legal preparedness and response efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The Network’s real-time resources, guidance, and information are available to assist the public health community in this challenging time, and law and policy experts are available to provide direct assistance.”

Justia COVID-19 Laws and Legal Resources

Justia 50-State COVID-19 Resources

Congressional Research Service COVID-19 Resources

Oxford’s Summary of State-Specific Government Response to COVID-19 in the US 2020/2021 — Washington (March 2023)

MRSC Emergency Powers in Washington State, Post COVID-19

Washington Courts’ Court Recovery Task Force

Re-Imagining Our Courts: Pandemic Response and Recovery Lead Courts Into the Future (Court Recovery Task Force Report)

The State of Washington is shown in light blue over a dark blue background. To the right of that, white text reads, “Safe Start Washington.” A multicolored horizontal bar appears under that in the middle of the page with white text underneath that reads, “A Phased Approach to Recovery.” — Governor Jay Inslee signed an order on May 4, 2020 calling for a phased re-opening of Washington’s economy.

Masking

WA Department of Health Masks and Face Coverings

WA Department of Health Masks and Face Coverings FAQ

Washington Statewide Face Covering Mandate — Health and Legal Resources (Washington State Law Library Blog)

Vaccination

Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Vaccine website

Vaccines.gov

CDC COVIDVaxView

States with Religious and Philosophical Exemptions from School Immunization Requirements (National Conference of State Legislatures)

Vacci-Nation: Immunization Laws and Requirements in the U.S. (Washington State Law Library Blog)

Several children crowd around a man in a blue suit who is kneeling down and making a gesture to shake one of their hands. Two women stand to the back and side of him watching on. They all wear masks. — President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visit a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in June 2022. White House photo.

Long COVID Resources

COVID.gov Long COVID

We Can Do This Resources About Long COVID

Washington State Department of Health Long COVID website

Supporting Employees with Long COVID: A Guide for Employers (Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion and Job Accommodation Network)

Guidance on “Long COVID” as a Disability Under the ADA, Section 504, and Section 1557 (Health and Human Services)

Remote Advocacy and Virtual Court Proceedings

The Online Courtroom: Leveraging Remote Technology in Litigation, edited by Richard Gabriel and Ken Broda-Bahm (2022)

Remote Advocacy in a Nutshell, by Tracy Walters McCormack (2021)

National Center for State Courts Remote Hearings & Services

Remote Hearings and Access to Justice During Covid-19 and Beyond (California Commission on Access to Justice, lightly adapted for use by Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Center for State Courts)

Washington Courts’ Virtual Court Proceedings

Best Practices in Response to Frequently Asked Questions, June 2021 (Remote Jury Trials Work Group)

Guiding Principles for Identifying, Developing, Implementing and Utilizing Court Technology, April 2021 (Court Recovery Task Force)

Adapting to Remote Justice: Depositions, mediations, hearings, and trials in the age of COVID-19, 75 Wash. St. B. News 38 (April 2021)

Remote Hearings: Let’s Not Forget the Cost of What’s Lost, 54 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 1 (2022), article to be added to the Law eCommons in the near future