Many respiratory virus illnesses peak during the winter due to environmental conditions and human behaviors. COVID-19 has peaks in the winter and also at other times of the year, including the summer. This is driven in part by new variants and decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations.
CDC's respiratory virus guidance has steps you can take to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 this summer.
...the likelihood of developing long Covid has dropped since the start of the pandemic but remains substantial, especially for people who aren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus.
...researchers found that the lowest rates of long COVID (3.5%) were in people who were vaccinated against COVID-19. Of the people who were unvaccinated, 7.8% developed long COVID.
Neither COVID-19 infection nor vaccination during the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with increased risk of major birth defects, finds a study from Scandinavia published by The BMJ today.