According to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, they would give all stakeholders a 60-day notice before lifting the emergency declaration. This is for the healthcare providers and other authorities can prepare for a return to normal operations.

But HHS did not provide a 60-day notice on Friday, Nov. 11. This means that the emergency will remain in place for at least another 60 days until mid-January.

CNBC reported that this is because public health officials are expecting another surge this winter as people will gather more indoors, where the virus spreads easier. They are also unsure of what the future holds as more immune evasive omicron subvariants become dominant in the United States.

"How the U.S. fares against COVID this fall and winter will help determine whether the emergency needs to be renewed again moving forward," Becerra told reporters in October.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media has started to provide details on the possibility of the next variant, which will be called pi – the next letter after omicron in the Greek alphabet. According to health experts, this major new variant could arise through the winter and bring a new wave of infections.