All Your Questions Answered About COVID-19 and Flu This Fall

You look forward to spooky season each year: the pumpkins, the scary movies, that crisp chill in the air. But one spooky thing you aren’t looking forward to? The possibility of getting sick with COVID-19 or the flu — and not knowing if your insurance will cover your vaccines like usual.  

Fear not, here’s everything you need to know about what to expect during the fall 2025 virus season based on what we know so far.  

How bad will the fall 2025 virus season be?  

It’s long been recognized in the medical community (and anyone who’s prone to getting sick) that fall marks an uptick in cases of viral infections like the common cold, influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).  

Making annual predictions for what exactly this season will be like is always a little tricky, but recently it’s become even harder.

“I see respiratory illnesses more year-round than I used to,” says Brett Schmitz, MD, an urgent care doctor at the UW Medicine Urgent Care Clinic in Ravenna. “Pre-COVID-19, I feel like there used to be a defined cold and flu season, and I would hardly see anything in the summer.”

That said, this year has been a little different, without as much of an active summer virus season. Beginning in late August, though, Schmitz had already started seeing more people come in with viral infections. As of mid-September, COVID-19 cases in the community are increasing, and more people are going to the emergency department with COVID-19 symptoms. In Washington state, hospitalizations for COVID-19 are increasing, but are low for flu and RSV. 

Will COVID-19 and flu vaccines still be available?  

In Washington state, there is a standing order to authorize healthcare professionals to provide COVID-19 vaccines to anyone 6 months or older. So, COVID-19, flu and also RSV vaccines should be available as usual if you want to get them and help yourself stay healthy this fall and winter. (And yes, vaccines are still safe to get.)  

Go to your local pharmacy or ask your doctor about which vaccines are most important for you. For example, the RSV vaccine is most important for pregnant individuals and people in their 60s and up. 

There are new COVID-19 vaccines that are updated to target more prevalent strains of the virus, especially LP. 8.1, which has been dominant recently.  

In a break from previous years, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) no longer recommends COVID-19 vaccines for children, pregnant people or adults without chronic medical conditions who are under 65 years of age. Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not outright recommend getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but instead advises patients to consult with their doctor first. (Which should be happening anyway — if you have vaccine questions, you should ask your primary care doctor or pharmacist.) 

The American Academy of Pediatrics still recommends the vaccines for infants older than 6 months, children and teens, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists still recommends that pregnant people get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Washington State Department of Health recommends these things, too.

“Most medical professional organizations have issued advice contrary to the FDAs recommendations,” Schmitz says. “In my professional opinion, any limitations in access to these vaccines are likely to increase the disease burden and deaths from COVID-19, especially in vulnerable populations.”

Vaccines are your best bet for preventing illness during fall and winter, especially if you have a condition like asthma that puts you at greater risk for getting sicker. And, if you do happen to still get sick, vaccines will help prevent severe illness. (Of course, hand washing, wearing a mask, and staying home if you’re sick still matter, too.)

If you live in Washington state and you’re concerned about having access to vaccines because you aren’t in the groups the FDA recommends them for, bring a copy of the standing order to your pharmacist or doctor’s office.  

Will health insurance cover COVID-19 and flu vaccines?  

Most major insurance companies should cover the vaccines, especially if the vaccines are recommended by your doctor or pharmacist or if you are in one of the demographics the FDA recommended the vaccines for. 

However, if you want to get the COVID-19 vaccine for your otherwise healthy kid, or if you’re pregnant without any complication, or if you’re a younger than 65 without a chronic condition, there’s a chance you may have to pay for the vaccine out of pocket. It could cost you as much as $140, according to the CDC’s list of average vaccine prices, so it is worth checking with your insurance or at the pharmacy where you get your vaccines.

The FDA also pulled the authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children under age 5, so if you want to vaccinate your young kids, you’ll need to go with the Moderna vaccine (and possibly pay for it yourself).  

How do you know if you have COVID-19, a cold, RSV or the flu?  

“Flu is the easiest one to tell apart; most of the time people with flu will look sicker, they’ll have a fever, they’ll have body aches, a lot of times they’ll have an elevated pulse, and they tend to look the sickest overall,” says Schmitz.

As for the other three? Well … it’s not always that simple.  

COVID-19 can feel a lot like having a cold, especially if you’ve been vaccinated. But it can also hit some people (even vaccinated ones) much harder — and the way it presents can change, so if you felt a certain way the last time you had COVID-19, you might not feel that way the next time you get it.  

All common viruses can cause symptoms like a low fever, cough, sore throat and stuffy nose, but viruses that infect the lower as well as the upper respiratory tract (like COVID-19, influenza and RSV) can give you a cough that lingers for weeks even though you’re not coughing anything up.  

If you’ve had a 100-degree Fahrenheit fever for more than four days or your symptoms haven’t improved after 10 days, a prompt visit to your doctor or the closest urgent care is in order.

“And if you have shortness of breath, come in. It could be a cold, but usually it won’t be. It could be something more serious like pneumonia,” says Schmitz. 

Are those at-home COVID-19 tests still worth doing?  

Maybe you’ve heard about those combo flu and COVID-19 rapid tests and wondered, should you try one?  

“At-home tests for COVID-19 are not quite as sensitive early on in the course of the illness as some of the tests we have in the clinic,” Schmitz says. “Home antigen tests are pretty good at picking up COVID-19 on or after the third day of symptoms, but earlier than that can be iffy.”

This may make you think, ‘I might as well not bother with testing.’ And in many cases, that’s fine. Schmitz says that if testing won’t change how you care for yourself — maybe you’re taking sick days no matter what — then testing probably isn’t necessary unless you think you have COVID-19 and you’re eligible for something like Paxlovid or are concerned you might get sick enough to warrant it.  

However, if you plan on being around family or friends soon, especially people who are at a higher risk for getting much sicker if you pass the virus on to them, it’s worth getting tested if it’s possible you have COVID-19.  

Why? COVID-19 is much more transmissible than other viruses, which means the likelihood that the people you’re around will get sick, too, is much higher.  

Don’t be that person who knowingly goes to the family holiday party or lets their child go to school with a cough and gives everyone COVID-19. No one likes that person.  

When should you stay home from work or school, and for how long?  

Long gone are the days of the mandated at-home quarantine during COVID-19 infection, but it’s still a good idea to stay home if you aren’t feeling well. (And it’s a considerate thing to do for others.)  

Regardless of which respiratory illness you think you have, Schmitz recommends staying home for at least 24 hours after your fever has ended on its own (without the use of fever-reducing medications). Even if you’re feeling better and no longer feverish, just know you might still be contagious for five to six days after the onset of the illness, so be cautious if you’re going to be around people who are at higher risk for medical complications from viruses.

There are lots of home remedies you can try to help ease your symptoms, though they won’t help you recover any faster. Cough suppressants and nasal spray decongestants can also help. (But stay away from over-the-counter decongestants that are in pill form — they don’t actually work and can cause startling symptoms like heart palpitations.)

At the end of the day, viruses are usually self-limited, Schmitz says. That means you’ll get better when you’ll get better, no matter what you do (with some exceptions — it’s obviously not a good idea to go run a marathon if you’re ill). You just have to wait it out and try to make yourself as comfortable as possible in the meantime. 

“And remember, if you’re worried that something just doesn’t seem right or isn’t what you’re used to when you get sick, it’s always better to come in and get checked out,” Schmitz says. 

This article was updated with new info on October 7, 2025.