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** COVID-19 Enters a New Phase
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The federal public health emergency for COVID-19 -- which was first declared in late January 2020 -- ended yesterday.

Public health emergency determinations, which are made by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, need to be renewed every 90 days, and the Biden administration let it expire.

What does that mean to you? Good question. Kate Yandell, one of our SciCheck writers, has some answers for you in her article "Q&A on the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ([link removed]) ."

Kate answers questions about how the end of the PHE will affect COVID-19 testing, vaccines, treatments and data collection. There are also changes to Medicaid and nutrition benefits, some of which had already taken effect prior to the end of the PHE.

Anne Sosin, a policy fellow studying rural health equity at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth, told Kate that most Americans "won’t feel a difference immediately at the end of the public health emergency.” But, she added, the impact will "accumulate over time and will be felt differentially depending on who you are.”

One thing that is certain: COVID-19 is not over. There were still more than 1,000 deaths ([link removed]) and 77,000 new cases ([link removed]) for the week ending May 3, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It doesn’t mean COVID is gone,” Jennifer Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at KFF, told Kate. “It just means that we have truly entered a new phase of living with COVID in the country.”
HOW WE KNOW
When fact-checking claims about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, we often turn to the final report ([link removed]) issued by the House select committee that investigated the riot. An accompanying website ([link removed]) also provides access to materials such as committee hearing videos and transcripts of witness interviews.
FEATURED FACT
The vast majority of abortions in the U.S. are performed early in pregnancy, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2020, 93.1% of abortions were performed at or before 13 weeks of gestation and less than 1% were performed at or after 21 weeks. Read more ([link removed]) .

WORTHY OF NOTE
Winners of this year's Webby Awards, including FactCheck.org, will be recognized in a ceremony in New York City on May 15. You can watch the 27th annual show ([link removed]) on YouTube, Instagram or Twitter.

Coverage begins with red carpet arrivals at 5:30 p.m. EST, and the main show starts at 7 p.m. Tune in to see if we are one of the lucky winners who will get to deliver our five-word speech -- a Webbys staple -- live on stage.

The host of the show will be comedian Roy Wood Jr., who also headlined the 2023 White House correspondents dinner. Also scheduled to make appearances are Webby special achievement winners emoji creator Shigetaka Kurita, singer SZA, rapper Tobe Nwigwe and actresses Traci Ellis Ross and Sharon Horgan.
REPLY ALL

Reader: Did the administration on the first day in office eliminate the immigration procedures such as "remain in Mexico" that were in place and working?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: No, but not for lack of trying.

On Feb. 1, 2021, less than a month into office, President Biden issued an executive order ([link removed]) directing the Department of Homeland Security to review the Migrant Protection Protocols ([link removed]) , better known as the “remain in Mexico ([link removed]) ” policy. Under that policy, which the Trump administration instituted in 2019, asylum seekers were sent to Mexico to await their court appearances in the U.S.

On June 1, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security announced ([link removed]) it would terminate the program. But Texas and Missouri sued ([link removed]) the administration and the federal courts blocked ([link removed]) termination of the program – which the administration had restarted under new standards after the court rulings, even as it continued to take steps to end it.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision,ruled ([link removed]) that the Biden administration had the power to end the program, and the administration again announced ([link removed]) in August 2022 it would end the program.

In December 2022, a federal judge in Texas again blocked ([link removed]) the administration’s August 2022 attempt to end the program. But the judge didn’t order the administration to restart the program, and Mexico, in February ([link removed]) of this year, said it would not cooperate if the “remain in Mexico” program was reinstated.

So, the administration has been trying since June 2021 to shut down the program, which as of today remains suspended.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "FactChecking Trump’s CNN Town Hall ([link removed]) ": Former President Donald Trump’s town hall event felt like a lightning round of false and misleading claims — most of which we’ve heard before — on voter fraud, immigration, classified documents and more.
* "Posts Share Fake Chelsea Clinton Quote About Global Childhood Vaccination Effort ([link removed]) ": An international initiative called the Big Catch-Up aims to increase vaccination among children who have missed routine vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. In describing the project, Chelsea Clinton did not say it was time to “force-jab every unvaccinated child in America,” nor will the project impose mandatory vaccinations, contrary to claims.
* "COVID-19 Vaccine Benefits Outweigh Small Risks, Contrary to Flawed Claim From U.K. Cardiologist ([link removed]) ": Dozens of studies support the use of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, which have a good safety profile and work well in preventing severe disease and death. Yet, citing a single, flawed paper, a British cardiologist known for peddling misinformation has misleadingly argued that the shots are harmful and “should never have been approved.”
* "The Political Disagreement Over a Health Exception for Later Abortions ([link removed]) ": In recent years, Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill that would bar states from prohibiting abortion after a fetus is viable outside the womb in cases where the patient’s life or health is at risk. Republicans claim that the bill would allow abortion on demand “up to the moment of birth.” Democrats counter that’s not what they support.
* "Unpacking the Claim that Blinken ‘Lied’ to Congress ([link removed]) ": Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says Secretary of State Antony Blinken lied to Congress about communicating with Hunter Biden via email. But there is less to the accusation than Johnson suggests.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Preguntas y respuestas sobre el fin de la emergencia de salud pública por el COVID-19 ([link removed].) ": El 11 de mayo marcará el final de la declaración federal de emergencia de salud pública del COVID-19, lo que traerá consigo cambios en la atención médica y en los beneficios para el público.
* "Publicaciones comparten una cita falsa de Chelsea Clinton sobre una iniciativa mundial de vacunación infantil ([link removed]) ": Una iniciativa internacional llamada “La gran puesta al día” busca aumentar la vacunación entre niños que no recibieron las vacunas de rutina durante la pandemia del COVID-19. Al describir el proyecto, Chelsea Clinton no dijo que era hora de “vacunar a la fuerza a cada niño no vacunado en EE. UU.”, ni el proyecto impondrá vacunas obligatorias, contrariamente a lo que se afirma.

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