Updates
Housatonic Valley Health District works with community organizations to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. This includes providing educational materials and recommendations.
UPDATE: March 1, 2024
CDC released updated recommendations for how people can protect themselves and their communities from respiratory viruses, including COVID-19. The new guidance brings a unified approach to addressing risks from a range of common respiratory viral illnesses, such as COVID-19, flu, and RSV, which can cause significant health impacts and strain on hospitals and health care workers. CDC is making updates to the recommendations now because the U.S. is seeing far fewer hospitalizations and deaths associated with COVID-19 and because we have more tools than ever to combat flu, COVID, and RSV.
UPDATE: November 20, 2023
Beginning November 20, every U.S. household can again place an order to receive four more free COVID-19 rapid tests delivered directly to their home. Before You Throw Out “Expired” Tests: Check FDA’s website to see if your COVID-19 tests’ expiration dates have been extended.
UPDATE: September 13, 2023
- CDC recommends the 2023–2024 updated COVID-19 vaccines.
- Everyone aged 5 years and older should get 1 dose of the updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to protect against serious illness from COVID-19.
- People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated COVID-19 vaccine.
- Children aged 6 months–4 years need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines to be up to date, including at least 1 dose of updated COVID-19 vaccine.
- COVID-19 vaccine recommendations will be updated as needed.
Visit CDC’s COVID-19 “Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines” webpage to learn more
UPDATE: May 11, 2023, marks the end of the federal COVID-19 PHE declaration. After this date, CDC’s authorizations to collect certain types of public health data will expire.
The United States has mobilized and sustained a historic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a nation, we now find ourselves at a different point in the pandemic – with more tools and resources than ever before to better protect ourselves and our communities.
Visit CDC COVID-19 webpage to learn more.
Check your Covid-19 Hospital Admission Level
Take action to protect yourself and others in your area from COVID-19.
Quarantine & Isolation Calculator
The CDC Quarantine and Isolation Calculator is a tool to help determine how long you need to isolate, quarantine, or take other steps to prevent spreading COVID-19.
COVID-19 Variant Surveillance
The National SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Surveillance System sequences and analyzes clinical specimens submitted every week to identify which variants are most prevalent at the national, regional, and state levels.
CDC Covid-19 Wastewater Surveillance
State, tribal, local, and territorial health departments participating in the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) submit testing data to CDC. CDC then standardizes and interprets these data and presents them in the COVID Data Tracker and on the NWSS page. How often sites collect wastewater samples and how frequently data are reported to CDC varies by health department.
Resources
COVID-19: The Basics:
- COVID-19 Info – CDC
- CDC COVID Data Tracker
- CDC National Emergency Department Visits for COVID-19, Influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus
- CDC COVID Data Tracker – Hospitalizations
- How to Protect Yourself and Others (CDC)
- COVID-19 Testing (CDC)
- Symptoms of COVID-19 (CDC)
What to do if you become sick:
- People with Certain Medical Conditions
- Respiratory Virus Guidance: Flu, COVID, RSV (CDC – March 1, 2024)
- Respiratory Virus Guidance: FAQs (CDC – September 19, 2024)
Connecticut’s COVID-19 Info:
Resources:
Updated: September 27, 2024