With new vaccine formulas and the increasing availability of free testing, the question is, what should you know if your COVID test comes back positive this summer?
After a small spike over the summer, case numbers appear to be declining slightly again. But that could change as new tests become available, children return to school and fall weather drives more people indoors.
If you contract COVID, the guidelines for your behavior may be different due to significant changes the CDC implemented earlier this year.
What you should know:
What are the symptoms?
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Runny nose
- Sneeze
- fatigue
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Altered sense of smell
- traffic jam
- Fever or chills
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
Recent reports have focused on specific gastrointestinal symptoms and COVID.
Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, CDC scientific advisor and epidemiologist, said that “gastrointestinal problems including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea” had previously been identified as possible symptoms of COVID-19.
“We don’t have specific data on the frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms in the current strains of the virus, but COVID-19 symptoms can certainly vary depending on the variant and the individual,” Jetelina told NBC Chicago in July.
Last year, a Chicago-area doctor said she noticed changes in the most common symptoms her patients reported when the JN.1 variant became dominant.
Dr. Chantel Tinfang, a family medicine physician at Provident Hospital’s Sengstacke Health Center in Cook County, noted at the time that many of the cases she treated were less likely to involve fever, body aches and chills and more likely to involve sore throat, fatigue and cough.
“We still see some patients who experience loss of appetite, loss of taste or smell. So it kind of depends,” she said. “One patient was just very, very tired. She couldn’t really do much. And then you know … it’s different. It’s not just coughing and shortness of breath. We still see that, though.”
She recommends seeing your doctor if your symptoms do not improve after the recommended isolation period.
How long does COVID last?
As for duration, symptoms can last for several days, but in some cases even longer.
“Some people infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 may experience long-term effects from their infection, called long-COVID or post-COVID conditions (PCC),” the CDC said in a statement.
Such symptoms can last for weeks and possibly even years.
However, previous timescales were around five to ten days.
What to do if the test result is positive?
In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID guidelines to align them with the guidelines for other respiratory infections. Anyone infected with COVID-19 no longer needs to stay away from others for five days, the CDC said. This effectively eliminated the recommendation for five days of isolation.
If symptoms are mild and improving, and it has been one day since a fever occurred, people can return to work or normal activities. However, the CDC still recommends that people with symptoms stay home.
“The recommendations suggest returning to normal activities when symptoms have improved overall for at least 24 hours and, if fever was present, it has resolved without the use of fever-reducing medication,” the guide says.
Once activities resume, the CDC recommends “additional prevention strategies” for five more days, including wearing a mask and maintaining distance from others.
The agency stresses that people should still try to prevent infections in the first place by getting vaccinated, washing their hands and taking measures to get more fresh air outdoors.
As part of the guidelines, the CDC suggests:
- Remain current vaccination protection to protect people from serious illness, hospitalization, and death. This includes flu, COVID-19, and RSV, if you are eligible.
- Practice good hygiene For example, by covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing, washing or disinfecting your hands frequently, and cleaning frequently touched surfaces.
- Measures for cleaner airfor example by supplying more fresh outside air, cleaning the indoor air or gathering outdoors.
The change comes at a time when COVID-19 no longer poses a threat to public health. At the start of the pandemic, the disease was the third leading cause of death in the country, and last year it was ranked tenth.
Most people have some immunity to the coronavirus due to previous vaccinations or infections. And many people are not adhering to the five-day isolation rule anyway, some experts say.
Where can I get free COVID tests?
Immediately following the summer surge in COVID-19 cases, Americans will be able to have free virus testing kits sent to their homes starting in late September.
According to the website COVIDtests.gov, U.S. households will be able to order up to four COVID-19 nasal swab tests when the federal program resumes. The U.S. health agency that oversees the tests has not yet announced an exact date for when orders will begin.
The tests detect current virus strains and can be ordered ahead of the holiday season when family and friends gather for festivities, an HHS spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Over-the-counter COVID-19 home tests have typically cost about $11 since last year.
What is the latest vaccine update?
On Thursday, U.S. regulators approved updated COVID-19 vaccines that are more targeted at the latest strains of the virus — and hopefully any variants that cause problems this winter.
After approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer and Moderna can now begin delivering millions of doses. A third US manufacturer, Novavax, expects its modified version of the vaccine to be available somewhat later.
The Chicago Health Department said vaccine supply will be determined by manufacturers, so individuals should “check with local pharmacies and their doctor’s offices to determine when vaccine is expected to be available.”
“We strongly recommend that everyone who is eligible get vaccinated with a current COVID-19 vaccine to have better protection against the variants currently circulating,” said FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks.
The agency’s decision came a little earlier than the rollout of updated COVID-19 vaccines last year, as a summer surge of the virus continues in most parts of the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already recommended vaccination for everyone 6 months and older this fall, and vaccines could be available within days.
While most Americans have some level of immunity from previous infection or vaccination or both, that protection is waning. Last fall’s vaccinations targeted a different part of the coronavirus family tree, a strain that is no longer circulating — and CDC data shows that only about 22.5 percent of adults and 14 percent of children were infected by it.
Forgoing the new vaccine is “a risky proposition” because even if your last infection was mild, the next one could be worse or lead to long-term symptoms of COVID, said Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr. of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Which variant is spreading the most?
The formulation of this fall’s vaccine is tailored to a newer branch of the omicron offshoot. Pfizer and Moderna’s shots target a subtype called KP.2 that was widely used earlier this year. While other offshoots, notably KP.3.1.1, are now spreading, they are closely enough related that the vaccines promise cross-protection. A Pfizer spokesperson said the company has submitted data to the FDA showing that its updated vaccine “produces a substantially improved response” against several virus subtypes compared with last fall’s vaccine.
According to CDC data, COVID strains known as “FLiRT” variants dominate across the United States.
These new variants, which scientists named “FLiRT” after the mutation sites of their spike protein, have been circulating in the United States since spring.
Scientists warn that the FLiRT variants may be better able to evade the immune system due to their spike protein mutations, and that waning immunity and low acceptance of the latest COVID-19 vaccine have led to a more vulnerable population.
