COVID-19 FAQs: Infection Risk and Prevention

By Linda Rath | Feb. 8, 2026 

The coronavirus pandemic is over, but COVID-19 hasn’t gone away. According to 2026 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 100,000 people have died from the virus every year in the U.S. since 2022. Many others have lingering or new chronic symptoms, commonly called long COVID. Here are some important updates:  

Question: Can I be infected if I’ve already had COVID-19 or have been vaccinated? 

A: The short answer is yes. Large meta-analyses suggest that the earliest mRNA vaccines were the most effective at actually preventing disease as well as serious illness and death, even among immunocompromised patients. As the virus has rapidly mutated, it has gotten better at dodging immunity from past infections or vaccines, so breakthrough infections and reinfections are increasingly common. 

Data also continue to suggest that people who are immunocompromised or take immune-suppressing drugs are at a “substantial risk” of reinfection, regardless of vaccination status. And a second or third infection can be more serious than the first. A study involving nearly six million people drawn from a Veterans’ Affairs health database found that reinfection carries a higher risk of severe health complications and death — at least for older white men, who were the largest group in the study. Those risks increase with each reinfection. 

Whether reinfection carries a higher risk of developing long COVID is unknown, but health experts agree that the best strategy is to avoid getting another infection as much as possible. This means staying up to date with vaccines and boosters, masking indoors in crowded spaces when COVID cases are high and washing hands frequently. 

Question: What does masking guidance mean for people with inflammatory arthritis? 

A: Health experts advise considering your own risk of developing severe COVID and talk to your doctor before ditching masks. This includes people on immunosuppressive medications. 

“You have to consider your particular level of immunosuppression and ask yourself other questions,” says Liana Fraenkel, MD, an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Medicine. “Who are you going to be surrounded with? Are the rates low in your community? Where are you going? And lastly, what are your trade-offs?” 

“While preventing infection is ideal, the most important thing to do is monitor yourself and get tested right away if you have symptoms, especially if you’re on immunomodulating drugs,” says Michael Saag, MD, a professor and associate dean for global health in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. 

Question: How can people with arthritis and autoimmune conditions protect themselves from COVID-19 infection? 

A: Getting vaccinated and boosted is still a good way to protect yourself from hospitalization or severe outcomes from COVID-19. But people with autoimmune diseases who take immunosuppressive medications may not get full protection to begin with, and vaccines wear off after a few months. Evolving viruses are also more resistant to vaccines, so you shouldn’t count on vaccines for full protection. For example, the 2024-2025 COVID vaccine was 57% effective at preventing hospitalization and death and 45% effective at preventing infection.  The already low level of protection dropped to 16.7% by 20 weeks, but remained 45% effective at keeping vaccinated people out of the hospital. In some cases, pausing arthritis medications increases vaccines’ effectiveness, but talk to your doctor before trying it. 

Question: Am I more likely to have complications from the virus if I have autoimmune or inflammatory arthritis? 

A: So far, studies don’t seem to show that people with inflammatory arthritis are more likely to have COVID-19 complications, but having additional conditions, like obesity and diabetes, or high arthritis disease activity may increase the risk. To help manage arthritis and other health problems, get plenty of sleep and daily exercise and stick to an anti-inflammatory diet as much as possible. 

Question: Do arthritis medications increase infection risks? 

A: The risk from arthritis drugs isn’t entirely clear. A 2024 retrospective study of more than 10 million patients from an insurance database found that corticosteroids significantly increased the risk of infection, hospitalization and death, especially among patients who weren’t vaccinated. The risk increased even more when corticosteroids were combined with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocking biologics or other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). TNF blockers and DMARDs alone decreased the risk of hospitalization. Other studies are more nuanced, suggesting that risk varies with the type of drug, dose, and overall health of arthritis patients. The best course of action is to ask your health care provider about risks from your specific medications.