Latest COVID-19 Guidance
Changes to Testing, Vaccine, Treatment, and Reporting
Testing
Testing for COVID-19 continues to be a critical tool to help reduce the spread of the virus. To make rapid tests available and accessible to Ohioans, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) continues to partner with local health departments, public libraries, community health centers and other community partners. The state also partners with education, both K-12 and higher education, to provide tests as a tool to help mitigate spread in classroom and campus settings. Partner organizations may reach out to testingrequests@odh.ohio.gov for more information.
While some insurance companies may no longer cover over-the-counter tests anymore, those on Medicaid can continue to get free tests, at home or elsewhere, through September 2024. Coverage for tests performed by your provider or at a pharmacy may now have some costs depending on your insurance coverage.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides information on COVID-19 testing, including when to test, types of tests available, specific information about self-tests, and how to interpret results.
Expiration Dates
The FDA has made available on its website an expiration date lookup tool for all at- home COVID-19 tests that have received an emergency use authorization (EUA). Details:
- Scroll down to view the complete list of testing products.
- Sites can select their specific test and within the “Expiration Date” column, click on “Extended Expiration Date.”
- Sites can then locate their lot #(s) on the list provided and find their expiration date.
Current expiration dates for BinaxNOW professional (i.e., on-site administration) tests can be found on the Abbott website.
Vaccine
Updated COVID-19 vaccinations will continue to be readily available to Ohioans including those without insurance.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the updated vaccine which has been better formulated to better target the predominant variants currently circulating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) recommends vaccine for anyone age 6 months or older who has not received vaccine in the last two months.
The ODH Vaccines for Children (VFC) program will provide vaccine, at no charge, to enrolled providers for administration to eligible children.
The ODH Adult COVID-19 Bridge Access Program will provide vaccine, at no charge, to enrolled providers for adults who are not insured or who have no coverage for COVID-19 vaccine, through the end of 2024. As part of that program, the CDC has contracted with CVS, Walgreens, and eTrue North pharmacies to allow them to continue offering free COVID-19 vaccinations to the uninsured. Individuals will be able to visit vaccines.gov to find providers participating in this program.
To protect against respiratory viruses, Ohioans are encouraged to stay up to date with vaccines.
See the CDC’s complete recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines.
See the COVID-19 Vaccine Commercialization Fact Sheet.
Treatment
Out-of-pocket expenses for certain COVID-19 treatments may change, depending on your health care coverage. At this time, providers continue to receive treatments purchased by the federal government. While these treatments are available at no cost to patients, a provider could charge a fee to cover the evaluation that leads to a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Medicaid programs will continue to cover COVID-19 treatments without cost-sharing through September 2024. After that, coverage and cost-sharing may vary by state.
ODH also has a supply of COVID therapeutic treatments to help mitigate future changes in coverage for those who may need assistance.
Reporting
The CDC will no longer compile its COVID-19 Community Transmission Levels or COVID-19 Community Levels, which have been a benchmark many people and institutions have looked to when determining what safety precautions to take. The CDC provides updates on Respiratory Virus Activity Levels to help individuals be aware of the status of common respiratory diseases in their community.
ODH will continue to track levels of COVID cases and hospitalizations in Ohio, but changes to some of the data reporting requirements resulted in the consolidation and archiving of some of Ohio’s coronavirus dashboards.
Staying up to date with vaccinations – the latest information
Vaccinations have allowed us to get to a point where COVID-19 no longer disrupts daily life. Vaccines can reduce everyone’s risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19.
If you are over the age of 60, have a serious chronic illness, or are immunocompromised, staying up to date with vaccines is especially important as you may be at higher risk for severe disease.
- Latest guidance on COVID-19 vaccine and boosters, stay up to date
- Still not sure about what you are hearing about vaccines? Separate the myths from the facts
What to do if you are sick or test positive?
Treatment and Medications
Clinical Care
If you are a clinician looking for current clinical recommendations about treatment options for your patients – please see important resources below.
COVID-19 Vaccine Providers
ODH is committed to providing the latest information for our COVID-19 vaccine providers.
I lost my COVID-19 vaccination card. What should I do?
If you lose your vaccine card, first contact your original vaccine provider to see if those vaccination records can be located. If the original vaccine provider is unable to assist, contact your local health department. The final available option is to review this information on how to mail a request for your vaccination records to the Ohio Department of Health. Replacement vaccine cards are not available from the Ohio Department of Health. If you do not have the original vaccine card, you can still get vaccine doses.