It may be necessary to pull out your COVID-19 toolkit.iStock
As the United States gears up for a likely winter surge of COVID-19, you may be wondering about the latest guidance on what to do if you get sick. What symptoms can you expect? Do you need to isolate or wear a mask? Should you take Paxlovid? What about getting vaccinated? Read on for the latest expert advice.
What COVID Symptoms Can You Expect Now?
For many people, COVID-19 is now producing fewer and less severe symptoms than during the height of the pandemic, says George Rutherford MD, a professor emeritus of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California in San Francisco.
“However, if you’re elderly, have underlying medical conditions, or are unvaccinated, all bets are off, and you can have just as severe disease as earlier on in the pandemic,” Dr. Rutherford says.
COVID symptoms can vary from one person to the next, says Emily Hyle, MD, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“A wide range of symptoms can occur when people have COVID-19: mild respiratory symptoms [like runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing, and sneezing], nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and flu-like symptoms, as well as more severe symptoms including shortness of breath,” Dr. Hyle says.
“Overall, people tend to have more mild symptoms if they have previously been infected, although this can vary; vaccination is the safest and most effective way to protect against more severe symptoms,” she adds.
Should You Isolate or Wear a Mask if You Get COVID?
In a word: yes. “If you have COVID-19, it is recommended that you help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to others, especially people who are at increased risk of severe illness such as older people, people with medical problems, and people with immunosuppression,” Hyle says.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer advises everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 to isolate for five days. Now the agency recommends staying home and away from others in your household until your symptoms are improving overall and you haven’t had a fever for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medication).
After that, people can return to normal activities while still taking some precautions for five additional days to reduce the spread of illness, the CDC advises. “These types of precautions can include masking indoors, improving ventilation by opening windows, and testing before interacting with people at high risk for serious illness,” Hyle says.
Should You Take Paxlovid?
It can help, but it’s not for everyone. “Paxlovid is certainly something that should be considered,” Rutherford says. The medication is approved for people with mild or moderate COVID who are at increased risk of severe disease because of age, underlying medical conditions like heart disease or obesity, or immune status.
However, Paxlovid may interact with other drugs, including pills commonly prescribed to manage anxiety, cholesterol, heart conditions, and migraines.
“Paxlovid remains effective as an antiviral for people who become infected with COVID-19 and are at increased risk for severe illness,” Hyle says. “It does have some drug-drug interactions, so it’s important to talk with a clinician about the individual risks and benefits.”
How Long Can You Expect to Feel Sick?
People who get COVID-19 infections right now typically have symptoms for four or five days, Rutherford says.
But this, too, can vary, Hyle notes. The best way to shorten the duration and severity of symptoms is to seek treatment promptly, Hyle adds.
“If you are at increased risk for severe illness with COVID-19, then it’s recommended to call your doctor as soon as you develop any symptoms or test positive, since Paxlovid might be recommended and is most effective when taken soon after symptom onset,” Hyle says. “Shortness of breath or chest pain should prompt emergency care in anyone.”
What Are the Best Home Remedies for COVID?
A lot of the same things you would do at home to manage cold and flu symptoms can also work for COVID-19 symptoms if you get sick with a relatively mild case.
Getting plenty of rest and staying hydrated are both key, according to Mayo Clinic. You can also take over-the-counter medicines such as fever reducers, pain relievers, or cough syrup.
If you’re isolating at home with COVID-19, Mayo Clinic also offers the following tips to promote physical and mental health:
If you got COVID-19 recently, you should still keep up to date with your vaccinations to lower your odds of reinfection, the CDC says, adding that you may consider waiting for three months after your recovery before getting a shot.
The CDC has okayed reformulated 2024–2025 COVID vaccines that target the currently circulating variants, recommending everyone age 6 months or older get a shot.
People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised should talk to their healthcare providers about getting more than one dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
What Is Your Risk of Long COVID if You Get Sick Now?
Because people are diagnosed with long COVID only when their symptoms from acute infections persist for at least three months, it will take some time to see for sure what the risk of long COVID looks like for people who are getting sick now.
However, some recent data suggests that the risk of long COVID is going down, Rutherford says.
A recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of long COVID has declined over time regardless of vaccination status — although with lower risk for people who do get vaccines.
Overall, the study found that about 5.3 percent of vaccinated people infected when the delta variant was circulating went on to get long COVID, compared with 3.5 percent of individuals infected later in the pandemic when the now-dominant omicron variant was circulating.
Among unvaccinated people, long COVID rates dipped from about 10.4 percent to 7.8 percent over the same time frame.
“That’s still a substantial number of cases given the number of cases of COVID,” Rutherford says.
Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Drug-Drug Interactions Between Ritonavir-Boosted Nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) and Concomitant Medications. National Institutes of Health. February 29, 2024.
Treating COVID-19 at Home: Care Tips for You and Others. Mayo Clinic. April 5, 2024.
Jane Yoon Scott, MD, is an infectious disease physician and an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Scott enjoys connecting with her patients, empowering them to understand and take ownership of their health, and encouraging them to ask questions so that they can make informed and thoughtful decisions.
She graduated with the highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology, then received her MD from the Medical College of Georgia. She completed her internal medicine residency training and chief residency at Temple University Hospital, as well as a fellowship in infectious diseases at Emory University. She is board-certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases.
When she is not seeing patients, Dr. Scott works with neighboring health departments to promote public health, especially to communities that have been historically underserved. She also teaches medical trainees and lectures medical students at the Emory University School of Medicine.
In her free time, Dr. Scott appreciates a good coffee shop, weekend hikes, playing guitar, strolling through cities, sampling restaurants, and traveling to new places.
Lisa Rapaport is a journalist with more than 20 years of experience on the health beat as a writer and editor. She holds a master’s degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and spent a year as a Knight-Wallace journalism fellow at the University of Michigan. Her work has appeared in dozens of local and national media outlets, including Reuters, Bloomberg, WNYC, The Washington Post,Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, The Sacramento Bee, and The Buffalo News.
