Today is Saturday, May 20th, this week for the first time in more than three years,

Americans started learning how to deal with COVID-19 without it being considered a public health

emergency. Federal officials decided the virus is, quote, no longer the disruptive force it once was.

And with that, let the emergency order expire. So what does that really mean for you? And what does

that mean about COVID-19 the disease? Dr. Caitlin Jettelina is an epidemiologist and the publisher

of the popular sub-stack newsletter called your local epidemiologist. She'll share why there's

not even a word in epidemiology to explain the state of COVID-19 today. And later, we talk all

about long COVID. What it is, the average Americans risk of getting those long-lasting symptoms

and more. She also weighs in on whether the U.S. is prepared for the next pandemic.

Welcome, welcome to the Newsworthy Special Edition Saturday, when we sit down with a different

expert or celebrity every Saturday to talk about something in the news. Don't forget to tune in

every Monday through Friday for our regular episodes, where we provide all the day's news in 10 minutes.

I'm Air Commandy, it's now time for today's Special Edition Saturday.

Dr. Caitlin Jettelina, thank you so much for coming on the Newsworthy again.

Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

So the government's official public health emergency for COVID-19 recently came to an end,

so I want to start with briefly reviewing what does that mean and some of the key things that

will change for most people. It's a big deal because not only did our national emergency end,

but the global emergency declared by the World Health Organization also ended. But for us Americans,

like on a day-to-day basis, the national emergency has more impact, particularly among people that

are under uninsured because many of the tools in our tool belt like antigen tests or vaccines

are going to move into the private sector just like any other treatment we have. And so

...