The U.S.

government has released the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan - which will enable
the United States to safely move forward and maintain and build on the progress we have made
over the past 13 months. The plan lays out a roadmap to help us continue to fight COVID-19 as we
begin to return to more normal daily lives. We envision a future in which Americans no longer fear
lockdowns and closures and our children are out of school. In the future, the nation will rely on the
strong layers of protection we build and invest in next-generation tools to stay ahead of this virus.

Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19

Since 2020, the U.S. has experienced five waves of the pandemic, including three last year driven
by new variants. In the early spring of 2021, the U.S. experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases
caused by the alpha variant—at a time when the U.S. immunization program was administering a
record number of vaccines per day. The delta variant, which was more than twice as contagious as
the original coronavirus strain, then spread across the country starting in the summer of 2021,
starting in the South and spreading into the Midwest and Rocky Mountains.

Omicron represents another step in the evolution of the virus, one of the most contagious in
history, causing a record number of infections worldwide in the past three months. However,
because the Omicron variant is less severe and the population is more immune to vaccination,
Omicron has caused relatively few cases of severe COVID-19. Compared with previous COVID-19
waves in the United States, the Omicron wave resulted in a lower proportion of cases that were
hospitalized or died.

The U.S. has weathered the current Omicron wave with minimal disruption — schools and
businesses have largely remained open. As the nation emerges from the Omicron wave, our path
forward is one of maintenance and continuity Improve the tools we use to prevent and treat
COVID-19. The Administration looks forward to working with Congress to ensure we have the
resources to do this.

Because we have these tools, we can begin to safely return to a more normal daily life, and we can
reduce the frequency with which public health mitigations like masks are used. Americans will
wear masks less often as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates its
framework for recommending preventive measures such as face masks, so it recommends wearing
them when and where it matters most. Make no mistake, as America moves forward, we will leave
no one behind. Justice will remain at the heart of our continued fight against COVID-19. We will be
there to support Americans through the long-term effects of COVID-19, including those living with
Long COVID or mental and behavioral health issues; and families experiencing the tragedy of loss