The White House will disband its COVID-19 response team after the dual national and public health emergencies end in May, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources close to the matter. The response team’s coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, is “likely” to depart the Biden administration after its dissolution, according to the Post. “As a result of this administration’s historic response to Covid-19, we as a nation are in a safer, better place than we were three years ago,” a senior administration official said in a statement to the newspaper. “Covid no longer disrupts our lives because of investments and our efforts to mitigate its worst impacts. Covid is not over, fighting it remains an administration priority, and transitioning out of the emergency phase is the natural evolution of the covid response.” After its creation in February 2020, the task force grew to some three dozen staffers under President Joe Biden, but has been “shrinking for some time,” according to the Post.
