As the COVID pandemic faded in 2022, U.S. life expectancy rose by more than a year. But the virus and drug overdoses spurred by fentanyl still took nearly 300,000 lives.
The agency is replacing its COVID-specific guidance with general guidance for respiratory viruses that says people should stay home when they are sick.
The CDC said Americans 65 and older should get another dose of the updated vaccine that became available in September — if at least four months has passed since their last shot.
The current guidance advises five days of isolation. Unnamed health officials have indicated that this guidance may soon go away, a move that troubles public health experts.
The CDC estimates that up to 86% of new COVID-19 cases stem from the latest mutation. The virus continues to evolve so rapidly that "our immune systems have not been able to keep up," an expert says.
Are we in a surge? How would we know? Is winter now "COVID season?" And what do you do if your whole family got the coronavirus over the holidays? We tackle readers' coronavirus questions.
Flu is rising, and COVID levels are higher than last season's peak. But COVID hospitalizations and deaths are down. Nonetheless, COVID is still the most dangerous virus circulating.