CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Right now, it is likely that you currently have COVID-19 or know someone who does.
The Centers for Disease Control lists Texas as one of 42 states where the virus is once again growing.
Dante Gonzalez, Assistant Director of Public Health for the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District, said that although they no longer track COVID-19 locally, it certainly hasn’t gone away.
“We know that COVID is still around,” Gonzalez said. “It is a viral disease. It has its peaks during the summer and sometimes during the winter. It’s a bimodal viral disease -- you get to see two peaks during the year. We know it hasn’t gone away.”
Like many other viruses, the coronavirus has evolved and formed into new variants. Symptoms, however, remain the same including changes in taste and smell, congestion, a dry cough, fatigue, fever, a runny nose and sore throat.
Any one of those may have you reaching for a COVID test you still have sitting in a drawer or cabinet. However, Gonzalez urges caution.
“There are some test kits that if you had it from like last year or the year before, they do expire, so the recommendation is to make sure that you have a test kit that has not expired yet so that you can get the most accurate results,” Gonzalez said.
If you are wondering whether you can still get free antigen tests mailed to you from the federal government, the answer is no. That program ended back in March.
But before you send someone to the store to buy a new one, keep in mind that the Food and Drug Administration has extended the expiration dates on some products, and you can use their website to see if what you have is included.
If it turns out that you do test positive, remember that with the higher demand for medication right now, timing is everything.
“I think that sometimes certain pharmacies are a little bit more popular than others, so they’ll run out of some of the medications,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just a matter of maybe calling another pharmacy to see if they have it there.”
He said that it is best to immediately check with your own doctor if you start to feel any of the symptoms.
An updated vaccine is expected to be available in the fall.