Updated flu and COVID-19 vaccines are now available! CDPH encourages everyone 6 months and older to get the 2024-2025 flu and COVID-19 vaccines to help prevent severe illness and hospitalization.

Schedule vaccine appointments with your health care provider, at a local pharmacy or at MyTurn.ca.gov - you can even get both vaccines in one visit!

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Respiratory Viruses

Many respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, circulate year-round in the United States and California. Some viruses are more active from October through March, such as influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and many others.

Respiratory viruses can cause cold or flu-like symptoms. They can spread through the air by coughing or sneezing. You can also pick up the virus by touching contaminated items and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.

These viruses can cause serious illness for some people. People who are at higher risk or around those who are higher risk should take extra precautions to stay healthy.

Get prevention strategies and information for common respiratory viruses. Already feeling sick? Visit the CDC page: Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You’re Sick.

Testing for COVID-19

COVID-19 testing can help you know if you have COVID-19 so you can decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps to lower your chances of spreading the virus to others.

Types of Testing

Viral tests look for a current infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, by testing specimens from your nose or mouth.

There are two main types of viral tests.

Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs)

Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), including PCR tests, are more likely to detect the virus than antigen tests. NAATs tests are the “gold standard” for COVID-19 tests.

Your sample will usually be taken by a healthcare provider and transported to a laboratory for testing and may take up to 3 days to receive results. Some NAATs may be performed at the point-of-care and provide results more quickly.

Antigen Tests

Antigen tests* are rapid tests that usually produce results in 15-30 minutes. Positive results are accurate and reliable. However, in general, antigen tests are less likely to detect the virus than NAAT tests, especially when symptoms are not present. Therefore, a single negative antigen test cannot rule out infection.

To be confident you do not have COVID-19, FDA recommends 2 negative antigen tests for individuals with symptoms or 3 antigen tests for those without symptoms, performed 48 hours apart. A single NAAT test can be used to confirm an antigen test result.

*Self-tests, or at-home tests, are antigen tests that can be taken anywhere without having to go to a specific testing site. Read self-test package inserts thoroughly and follow the instructions closely when performing the test.