I received a couple of reader questions in recent weeks that I’d like to answer here, in the hopes that my responses will be more broadly helpful. The questions cover COVID-19’s incubation period (i.e. time between exposure and symptoms), vaccine effectiveness for this fall, and nasal sprays.
Sources and updates for the week of August 27 include funding from Project Next Gen, wastewater testing for more viruses, health misinformation, and more.
In May 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Walgreens, and Labcorp started offering free PCR tests at select pharmacy locations. The program appears to still be available following the end of the federal public health emergency.
Overall, the national COVID-19 picture remains fairly similar to what we’ve seen for the last few weeks. The U.S. is at a plateau of COVID-19 spread; we could see an increase this summer, but limited data make it hard to say for sure.
Sources and updates for the week of May 14 include new CDC ventilation guidance, a Long COVID and ME/CFS demonstration, COVID-19 test prices, and more.
On Thursday, the CDC revamped its COVID-19 dashboard in response to changing data availability with the end of the federal public health emergency. The new dashboard downplays continued COVID-19 risk across the U.S., by prioritizing hospitalizations and deaths over other metrics.