Everything you need to know about the current situation

Here’s a guide for everything you need to know about COVID-19 — from variant- and case-tracking to the most up-to-date public health recommendations.

Variants

• What COVID variant is dominant right now? HV.1 now accounts for nearly a third of cases nationwide — more than any other variant in the U.S. A member of the Omicron family of COVID variants, HV.1 was first detected over the summer and appears to share many of the symptoms we’ve come to know from other variants, including fever, cough, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. EG.5, nicknamed Eris, has been knocked down to second place after being the most dominant variant in early fall, and is responsible for 13.1% of cases. BA.2.86 variant, nicknamed Pirola, is the third-most dominant, accounting for 8.8% of cases nationwide, with cases of the highly mutated variant nearly tripling in the last two weeks. You can follow the latest COVID variant surveillance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

• Are cases currently increasing or decreasing? With less testing and fewer people reporting positive test results to their doctor, case counts are no longer a reliable metric. Instead, officials are using hospitalizations as a key indicator to gauge how prevalent COVID is in the U.S. This week’s national forecast of hospitalizations from the CDC “predicts that the number of daily COVID-19 hospital admissions will remain stable or have an uncertain trend, with 980 to 7,900 daily COVID-19 hospital admissions likely reported on December 25.” And while we’re seeing an increase in illnesses like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), CDC Director Mandy Cohen says, “COVID is still the respiratory virus that is putting the most number of folks in the hospital and taking their lives.”

Masks

Testing

• Are at-home tests free? As of Sept. 25, every household in the U.S. can order four free rapid COVID tests to be mailed directly to their home. In November, the federal government expanded the program to include four more free tests per household — meaning that if you haven’t taken advantage of free tests since the program started in September, you can now order a total of eight free at-home COVID tests. You can place your order here. Testing will also be available through schools; the U.S. Department of Education recently announced that schools will be able to order free tests “to supply students, families, staff and larger school communities.” And the federal government has additional programs that provide free COVID tests “to uninsured individuals and underserved communities.”

• How accurate are at-home tests? The Food and Drug Administration says that at-home COVID antigen tests (aka rapid tests) are less precise than molecular tests (i.e., the PCR tests performed at a hospital or clinic), and false negatives may be more likely to happen, especially if the test is taken shortly after infection or when you don’t have symptoms. If you get a negative result on an at-home COVID test, the FDA recommends testing again 48 hours later, even if you don’t have symptoms. PCR tests are still considered the gold standard in COVID testing, but experts believe at-home tests should still be able to pick up newer variants.

• Can I use an expired test? The Food and Drug Administration has revised expiration dates for some tests to extend them by several months. Follow this link, find your test’s name, click on Extended Expiration Date, and check the lot number on your box to see the new expiration date for your test.

Vaccines

• Who should get boosted? The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get the updated monovalent vaccine, which became available in September. The updated vaccine targets the XBB.1.5 Omicron strain and is expected to be effective against currently circulating variants. Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, which use mRNA technology, are approved for anyone 6 months and older. Anyone age 12 and older is eligible for the updated Novavax vaccine, which uses a more traditional protein-based approach. But so far few Americans have taken advantage. As of Nov. 18, just 15.7% of U.S. adults had received the newest COVID shot, according to the latest CDC data.

• Are vaccines free? COVID vaccines are covered by insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. The federal Bridge Access Program provides free COVID vaccines for uninsured and underinsured adults, and the federal Vaccines for Children program provides vaccines for children at no cost. But the U.S. government is no longer buying and distributing vaccines, which led to a rocky rollout with some canceled appointments as individual doctors offices, pharmacies and insurance companies handle the process themselves.

• Can you get COVID and flu shots at the same time? Yes. Research shows there’s only a slightly higher chance of experiencing side effects such as pain at the injection site or fatigue, and there’s no decrease in benefit. Experts suggest doing whatever is most convenient, and you can opt for both shots in the same arm or one in each arm.

• Do vaccine cards matter? Most people no longer need to show that they’ve been vaccinated — unless you’re a health care worker or if you work in a high-risk environment, like a college dorm or nursing home. The CDC has stopped printing vaccine cards, but if you still have your card it’s a good idea to treat it like any other medical record and file it away in a safe place. If you’ve lost your card and want proof of vaccination, some states have registries that include adult vaccines, or you can contact the doctor’s office or pharmacy that administered your vaccine, which can provide digital or paper verification.