May 11, 2023

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hand stacking toy blocks spelling out POST COVID

COVID-19 - no longer a public health emergency

On Friday, May 5th of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern. And as of today, May 11, the U.S. Declaration of Public Health Emergency regarding COVID-19 is being lifted.

No one is more relieved than we are at Tarrant County Public Health (TCPH) that COVID-19 is no longer a major concern. It isn't gone completely, and there is still a need for people to stay vigilant for it and get vaccinated and boosted. But let’s hope it will be a long time before we encounter another world-wide public health emergency.

It is time now for our community to fully bounce back into health. It starts with taking care of any deferred or pending healthcare, doctor’s visits, dental visits and check ups that you may have put off due to COVID related concerns. Let’s get back on track, get our healthcare done, get our exercise regimen going and get to better health.

I'm not a meteorologist, but from my experience living in north Texas, I can say with great certainty there are hot days ahead for us. TCPH has some published information about heat injuries, what they are and how you can deal with them.

We can also expect rainy days ahead too. With the rain come the mosquitoes, and with the mosquitoes come the possibility of West Nile Virus. We have no way of predicting how severe WNV will be this year, but we always will advise the best way to avoid WNV is to keep standing water out of your yard. Mosquitoes need standing water to breed. We are working with many municipalities in Tarrant County to continually monitor mosquito pools in public areas and will warn the public should any WNV-positive mosquito pools turn up in their respective city. You can monitor our progress here.

And, as always, should any infectious disease crop up, we will make you aware of that on the Current Concerns web page on this website, as well as in the media.

Yours in health,

Veerinder "Vinny" Taneja

Director, Tarrant County Public Health