When we talk about catching waves over the summer, this is not the kind of wave we mean. Because as summer winds down, it’s not ocean waves many of us are riding — it’s the still-climbing wave of a COVID surge.
If it feels like everyone around you has COVID (or just had COVID), you aren’t crazy. This summer surge is on track to potentially be the biggest since the pandemic began in 2020, and it’s driven by the innocuously named “FLiRT” variants — descended from the JN.1 variant but even more contagious.
For those at high-risk for severe illness or who have complicating conditions, COVID can still be devastating. (It’s the 10th leading cause of death, projected to continue killing 50,000 a year.) For those who experience a milder case, this round of COVID can very much mimic bad allergies that develop into something akin to a flu. People who haven’t had COVID before or haven’t had a recent vaccine may feel the infection more acutely than others.
The illness from these variants presents most like a respiratory infection. Common symptoms include: fever or chills; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; sore throat; congestion or runny nose; new loss of taste or smell; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; and/or nausea or vomiting.
If you start to get a runny nose or scratchy throat, it’s important to take a COVID test and limit your exposure to others. If the test comes back negative but symptoms get worse, test again. Sometimes it takes a while for enough of the virus to accumulate in the nasal passages to be detectable, and you may reach the fever stage before a home test can determine you have COVID.
However, it’s during this time — between first symptom onset and the fever subsiding — that you are most contagious. That’s why it’s important to test early and repeatedly, and to minimize your contact with other people. That means staying home from work or school so as not to infect others. (We know that’s easier said than done for many people.)
Once you have a positive COVID test, the CDC recommends remaining in isolation until you’ve been fever-free, without the use of fever-reducers, for 24 hours and your other symptoms are improving. After that, you should still wear a mask for five days when around other people.
We recommend talking to a doctor about getting on anti-viral medications as soon as you get your positive COVID result. Some doctors may want to see you in-person before prescribing medications; others may be OK with a telehealth appointment. Like flu treatments, the meds won’t magically cure you, but they will shorten the length and severity of your ailment. (Vaccines and boosters remain the best way to avoid serious illness.)
Epidemiologists are divided on whether COVID is “endemic” — an expected fact of life, like the flu in the U.S. or malaria in certain African countries — since it hasn’t settled into predictable patterns yet. However, they agree that COVID is here to stay. And while COVID may not pose the same threat now as it did four years ago, it must still be taken seriously.
