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of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Date Updated: 12/2/2025

    COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. 

    COVID-19 spreads through tiny droplets when people with COVID-19 cough, sneeze, or talk. You can also get it by touching a surface with the virus on it, then touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Cover your mouth with your elbow when you cough or sneeze and avoid touching your face.

    COVID-19 is still causing serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths in Pennsylvania.

    • Over 20,000 Pennsylvanians hospitalized from Dec 7, 2024, to Sep 13, 2025, were caused by COVID-191.
      • While most adults hospitalized for COVID-19 had other comorbidities or underlying conditions, many of the young children hospitalized were otherwise healthy.
    • Over 1,200 deaths due to COVID-19 occurred from Sep 29, 2024, to Sep 13, 20251.
      • 1.4% of all Pennsylvania deaths during this time period were due to COVID-19.
      • Deaths caused by COVID-19 are thought to be underestimated due to factors such as under-reporting on death certificates and a lack of viral testing of people who died from COVID-19.

    Common symptoms include:

    • Cough
    • Sore throat
    • Fatigue or tiredness
    • Congestion or runny nose
    • Muscle or body aches
    • Headache
    • Fever or chills
    • Nausea or vomiting
    • Diarrhea
    • Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
    • New loss of taste or smell

    Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after being exposed but typically show up after 3-5 days. Symptoms may change with new variants and your vaccination status.

    Contact a healthcare provider if your symptoms do not improve or worsen.  

    Call a doctor or 911 right away if you or a loved one has:

    • Trouble breathing
    • Pain or pressure in your chest
    • New confusion
    • Inability to wake or stay awake
    • Lips, nails, or skin appearing pale, gray, or blue

    Even people with no or mild symptoms can develop long COVID, which can cause lasting health problems.

    Stay home if you are sick.

    Even if you have mild symptoms, you may spread COVID-19 to someone who is at high risk of getting seriously sick.

    Stay home until you feel better AND it has been at least 24 hours since your fever ended (without taking fever-reducing medicine).

    After you feel better and your fever is gone, keep taking precautions−handwashing, physical distancing, masking, improving air flow−for 5 more days.

    Get tested and treated early.

    Testing for COVID-19 helps you start treatment early and protect the people you care about.

    If you test positive, you can take steps to reduce your risk of severe illness and prevent spreading the virus to others.

    COVID-19 medicines, like Paxlovid, work best when started within 2 days of feeling sick, but can be taken up to 5-7 days after symptoms begin. These medicines can help prevent people with certain health risks from needing hospitalization.

    For more information about testing, please visit Testing for COVID-19 | COVID-19 | CDC. For a list of treatment options, please visit, types of COVID-19 Treatment.

    Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines helps prevent severe illness.

    Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations greatly lowers your risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death.

    Vaccines prevent thousands of hospitalizations and deaths in the US every year.

    Nationally, from September 24, 2023 – August 11, 2024, COVID-19 vaccination prevented approximately 100,000 hospitalizations, 20,000 ICU stays, and 7,000 deaths2.

    COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance

    The updated 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine is available now for those 6 months and older. Vaccination is especially important for those with high-risk conditions and anyone who has never been vaccinated. The American Academy of Pediatrics has compiled a list of high-risk conditions among children.

    People with weakened immune systems may need extra doses. Talk to your healthcare provider.

    For more information on who should get a vaccine, consult recommendations from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the PADOH General Immunization Guidance, and the PADOH Respiratory Virus Vaccines page.

    Many people can get vaccines for free through insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or public health programs like CDC’s Vaccines for Children Program (VFC).

    However, vaccine supply is uncertain. Check with your doctor or pharmacist and insurer before getting a COVID-19 vaccine to confirm eligibility and availability. For those who are underinsured or without insurance, COVID-19 shots are available at a Department of Health local health center near you. Pharmacies with available appointments can be found here.

    Serious vaccine side effects are rare.

    Most side effects are mild (arm soreness, tiredness, mild fever) and go away on their own after a few days.

    Severe reactions are extremely rare:

    • Anaphylaxis, a potentially fatal allergic reaction, is seen in ~ 5 out of every 1 million doses given3
    • Myocarditis and Pericarditis, inflammation of the heart and surrounding tissues, is seen in ~ 8 out of every 1 million doses given4(all ages) and ~ 27 out of every 1 million doses among males age 12-245.
    • Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition where the immune system attacks the nerves, was seen among adults 18 years and older who received a J&J vaccine, but not those who received a Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine.

    The protection from vaccination greatly outweighs these rare risks.

    Report unexpected side effects to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to help keep vaccines safe.

    Additional Resources

    References:

    1. Respiratory Virus Dashboard. (n.d.). Department of Health | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/diseases-conditions/infectious-disease/respiratory-viruses/respiratory-virus-dashboard
    2. Ryan E. Wiegand, Owen Devine, Megan Wallace, Ismael R. Ortega-Sanchez, Huong T. Pham, Diba Khan, Danielle L. Moulia, Lauren E. Roper, Imelda Trejo, Katherine E. Fleming-Dutra, Fiona P. Havers, Christopher A. Taylor, Estimating COVID-19 associated hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and in-hospital deaths averted in the United States by 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccination: A conditional probability, causal inference, and multiplier-based approach, Vaccine, Volume 49, 2025,126808, ISSN 0264-410X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.126808. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X25001057)
    3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025, January 31). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine safety. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/vaccines/covid-19.html
    4. Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. (2025b, June 25). FDA approves required updated warning in labeling of mrna COVID-19 VAC. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/safety-availability-biologics/fda-approves-required-updated-warning-labeling-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-regarding-myocarditis-and?utm_source=chatgpt.com
    5. Hromić-Jahjefendić A, Sezer A, Aljabali AAA, Serrano-Aroca Á, Tambuwala MM, Uversky VN, Redwan EM, Barh D, Lundstrom K. COVID-19 Vaccines and Myocarditis: An Overview of Current Evidence. Biomedicines. 2023 May 17;11(5):1469. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11051469. PMID: 37239140; PMCID: PMC10216497.