Worried About COVID Symptoms After Pride? What to Do Now

“Is my sore throat, slight cough or runny nose COVID-19?”

It’s a concern that’s still, alas, familiar to many of us in 2025. You go out, perhaps in a crowded space — or gather with friends and family inside for the holidays — and a few days later, you start to feel … a little off. (Or maybe you just start to feel immediately sick and gross.)

Since many folks in the Bay Area gathered this past weekend to celebrate San Francisco Pride, perhaps you’re one of those people waking up this morning wondering if you have COVID symptoms.

COVID-19 levels in Bay Area wastewater may be lower than they were this time last year, but they’re slowly increasing, according to Stanford’s WastewaterSCAN team, which monitors coronavirus presence in human sewage. And this is fueled in part by a new subvariant called NB.1.8.1, dubbed “Nimbus” — reported to bring with it a particularly nasty sore throat among its symptoms.

If that’s you, keep calm and keep reading for what to know about COVID symptoms with the new NB.1.8.1 “Nimbus” variant and where to find a free COVID test. You can also jump to:

• What’s the incubation period for COVID in 2025?
• How to find a free or low-cost COVID test

What are the COVID symptoms to look for in 2025?

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, confirmed that no surprising wild card symptoms have yet been reported for NB.1.8.1 — they’re the same COVID-19 symptoms you’re used to hearing about from previous variants.

That said, the one symptom that doctors are hearing about from patients is the very painful throat that’s earned the unfortunate nickname “razor blade throat.” Or as Reddit commenters have described it, “like being burned by acid whenever I ate or drank something” and “like my throat was coated in broken glass.”

As with previous variants to reach the Bay Area, Chin-Hong noted that more people also now appear to experience non-respiratory symptoms like diarrhea, nausea and vomiting when they get COVID-19 — gastrointestinal symptoms that folks can often initially dismiss as being unrelated to the virus. So if you’re feeling symptoms that feel more like food poisoning, don’t rule out COVID-19 straightaway.

According to the CDC, this is the full list of the possible symptoms of COVID-19:

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

Remember, you might have a combination of these symptoms or just one. They might be mild or feel more severe. But if you’re experiencing any of these, take a COVID-19 test (more on this below).

Read more about the new NB.1.8.1. variant.

How soon after exposure can I get COVID?

If you’ve heard that incubation times for the virus are getting shorter — that is, the amount of time between getting exposed to COVID-19 and testing positive — it’s true. People are testing positive more quickly than they were in 2020, when the average incubation period was five to seven days, because it has changed with each new variant, Chin-Hong said.

Three days is a common period of time between exposure and getting sick, Chin-Hong said. And given this trend, it makes sense to take a COVID-19 test as early as two days after exposure if you’re already having symptoms.

So if you were out partying for Pride starting Saturday and started feeling a little sick on Monday? Don’t wait to test.

Don’t trust a negative early COVID-19 test …

If your first test is negative, you should absolutely test again the next day if symptoms persist — and again after that if you’re still negative.

Here’s why you can’t necessarily trust a negative at-home COVID-19 test in 2025: While incubation times have gotten shorter, doctors are seeing people take longer to get a positive test, Chin-Hong said, and that’s probably more to do with how much quicker someone with COVID-19 might develop symptoms in 2025 than they would have done in 2020.

As a reminder, those symptoms are the sign that your body’s immune system is mounting a response to an invading virus. Back at the start of the pandemic, by the time you developed COVID-19 symptoms and took a test, it would probably already be positive.

But at this stage of the pandemic, “we likely have more immune cells circulating that can recognize the enemy, so it ‘sounds the alarm’ quicker [and] people might feel something faster than in the old days,” Chin-Hong said.

The bottom line: If you’re testing because you’ve started feeling unwell, don’t assume a negative result means you don’t actually have COVID-19. Play it safe, stay home as much as you can and wear a well-fitted mask if you can’t. Take another antigen test 48 hours later, Chin-Hong said. You can also seek out a PCR test, which is more sensitive.

… and make sure your COVID-19 test hasn’t expired

Those COVID-19 tests you might have in a drawer may be approaching their expiration date if they haven’t already passed it. And an expired test could give you an unreliable result.

You can check the FDA’s list of antigen test types to see whether the box you’re holding has had its shelf life extended by the manufacturer. The FDA said that if a test’s shelf life has been extended, it’s because the manufacturer has given the agency enough “data showing that the shelf-life is longer than was known when the test was first authorized.” (In other words, it’s still OK to use that test.)

Another tip from Chin-Hong: “A quick and dirty way” to know if you’re using a functional COVID-19 test is to make sure the control line turns positive. If that doesn’t happen, “that means the test is probably not working,” he warned.

How to find a COVID test (with or without insurance)

There’s no way to sugarcoat this: Finding a quick, free COVID test — whether an at-home antigen test or a PCR test — has gotten progressively harder at this stage of the pandemic, as more sites and services have been shuttered for good.

So, what do you do now if you don’t already have a supply of antigen tests for COVID-19 at home right now? Try the following:

Purchase a COVID-19 at-home antigen test at a pharmacy near you

If you have health insurance, you can request reimbursement from your health insurer for the cost of up to eight at-home tests per month, so don’t throw away your receipts.

Find a COVID-19 PCR testing site near you

Currently, there are still some sites offering free COVID-19 testing around the state. Try visiting MyTurn.ca.gov/testing and applying the “Free Sites” filter from the drop-down menu. You can also find a health center near you and ask if they offer COVID-19 testing.

If you have health insurance, contact your provider

If you’re insured through major Bay Area providers like Kaiser Permanente or Sutter Health, the easiest way to get a COVID-19 test may be to make an appointment through your provider.

Most providers offer sign-ups online through a member login and appointments can also be made by phone.

Read more about where to find a free or low-cost COVID-19 test in 2025.

Negative for COVID? Keep testing and stay home

If your first initial COVID test is negative, remember that because incubation periods can vary, it can take a little while longer to get a positive COVID test — even if you have symptoms already. Follow Dr. Chin-Hong’s advice above to “rinse and repeat” your tests, to be sure.

What if you’re still feeling sick and it’s not COVID? Whether you’re suffering from a bad cold instead, it’s still a very good idea to stay home as much as you possibly can, to avoid infecting other people.

Tell us: What else do you need information about?

At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2025. We’ve published clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID, how to cope with intense winter weather and how to exercise your right to protest safely.

So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Let us know and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site and on KQED Public Radio, too.

An earlier version of this story was published on Oct. 31, 2023.