Pandemic emergency is over. Societal shifts linger.

May 11 marked the official end of the COVID-19 public health emergency in the United States, coming days after a similar declaration globally by the World Health Organization.

It’s not that medical experts say the pandemic itself has ended. But deaths attributed to the disease (more than 1 million in the U.S. since 2020) have slowed. Special federal resources responding to the pandemic will be winding down.

At its depths, the pandemic stirred public compassion and government assistance – with accompanying fraud. The current transition leaves behind questions about the pandemic’s causes and how...