Ashish Jha to leave COVID-19 czar post as White House dismantles pandemic team
Haisten Willis
Video Embed
The White House is seeing off its COVID-19 czar as it winds down its pandemic operations.
Ashish Jha became the Biden administration‘s COVID-19 response coordinator last April and will leave the post one month after the public health emergency ended.
DESOLATION OF SMOG: TRACK WILDFIRE SMOKE FALLOUT IN REAL TIME ACROSS THE US
“When I took office, our nation was facing a once-in-a-generation pandemic, hit with a virus that changed everything,” President Joe Biden said in a statement announcing the move. “Thanks to my administration’s whole-of-government approach, we now have the tools to manage COVID-19, and the virus no longer controls our daily lives.”
Jha took over the job from Jeff Zients, who now serves as White House chief of staff. He oversaw the waning months of the pandemic as a national emergency and also was in place when Biden himself contracted the disease last July. He made several appearances in the press briefing room while the president worked in isolation.
“As one of the leading public health experts in America, [Jha] has effectively translated and communicated complex scientific challenges into concrete actions that helped save and improve the lives of millions of Americans,” Biden said. “I extend my deepest thanks to Ashish and his family. We are a stronger and healthier nation because of his contributions to public service.”
The White House has been winding down its COVID-19 operations for months as the disease fades from the public mind. Biden said “the pandemic is over” in an interview last September, an act of Congress ended the national emergency in April, and the public health emergency expired on May 11.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Among the few coronavirus-related policies still in place is the student loans pause, which will end in late August as part of the debt ceiling deal. The Supreme Court will soon rule on a move that transfers roughly $400 billion of student loans from borrowers to taxpayers, which rests legally on the pandemic.
Jha took short-term leave from a position at Brown University’s School of Public Health to accept the White House position.