October 2024

No one likes to get sick, especially if they can do something to prevent it. Viruses and germs can keep you at home feeling miserable. Worse, they can make someone else sick if you don’t know how to prevent spreading your illness to others.

Common respiratory viruses like the cold, COVID-19, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), cause millions of illnesses each year. In severe cases, contagious viruses such as COVID-19, flu, and RSV can cause hospitalization and even death. These viruses are spread by respiratory droplets — from sneezing, coughing, or talking; close contact with someone who is sick; and from touching contaminated surfaces.

To protect yourself and prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, follow this updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Get vaccinated

Vaccines help get your body ready to defend itself against viruses and the severe illness they can cause. When you get vaccinated, it reduces your chances of getting infected. More importantly, vaccinations prevent you from developing severe illness that can lead to hospitalization and even death.

The CDC recommends the following vaccines to prevent respiratory illnesses:

Influenza
Everyone six months of age or older should get the annual flu vaccine, preferably in September or October.

COVID-19
The CDC recommends that everyone six months of age or older gets an updated COVID-19 vaccine. Check this CDC page for their latest recommendations.

RSV
People aged 60 and older should get an RSV vaccine to protect against severe illness from respiratory syncytial virus. It is typically given from September through January. But older people aren’t the only ones at risk from this disease. RSV is the leading reason babies are hospitalized in the U.S., according to the CDC. While infants aren’t eligible for the vaccine, pregnant women can get vaccinated during weeks 32 through 36 of pregnancy. The mother

builds antibodies that are then transferred to her baby in utero, helping to prevent severe RSV disease in infants.

The CDC advises that some infants and toddlers may benefit from monoclonal antibodies against RSV. This approach may prevent or lessen the severity of RSV in young children. Talk to your pediatrician about this option in the following situations:

• Infants (under eight months old) born to mothers who didn’t receive the RSV vaccine during pregnancy.
• Toddlers (eight months to 24 months) at high risk of RSV complications.

Practice good hygiene

During cold and flu season — and any time you’re sick, use these hygiene tips to help prevent you from making others sick:

• Avoid close contact with others when you are sick, even people in your household.
• Cover your nose and mouth completely when coughing or sneezing. Use tissues if you can — and throw them away when done. If you don’t have a tissue, cough and sneeze into your elbow. (If you cough or sneeze into your hands, you’ll transfer germs onto everything you touch until you wash your hands.)
• Wash your hands immediately after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose. Wash your hands for a count of 20 seconds or the time it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice. If soap and water aren’t available, use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Clean and sanitize high-touch surfaces often or after you have visitors in your home. This includes doorknobs, light switches, and appliances. Sanitizing sprays reduce most germs on surfaces. Use a disinfecting spray if someone in your household is sick or you’ve had a visitor who is sick. You can also use a bleach solution — four teaspoons of bleach to one quart of lukewarm water.
• Consider wearing a mask if you need to go out in public.

Clean the air you breathe

Respiratory viruses can linger in the air you and others breathe. To keep the air around you cleaner when you are sick:

• Open doors and windows to let in fresh air.
• Use an exhaust fan.
• Use a portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaner. According to the CDC, HEPA filters are around 99.97% efficient at capturing COVID-19 viral particles. That’s because even the smallest COVID particle attaches to larger particles in respiratory droplets when we cough or sneeze. And HEPA filters can grab those droplets and keep them from spreading in the air.

Stay home until you feel better

The CDC has issued updated guidance on respiratory illnesses, including colds, flu, COVID-19, and RSV.

• You can go back to your normal activities (such as work and school) when, for at least 24 hours, your symptoms have been getting better and you’re fever-free without taking any fever-reducing medicine.
• Practice precaution for five days after returning to normal activities by following the prevention tips above. Even if you’re feeling better, you may still be contagious to others.
• If you go back to normal activities and you start to feel worse or develop a fever again, stay home again and repeat the above process.

Stopping the spread of strep throat

Respiratory viruses aren’t the only things that are highly contagious during cold and flu season. Strep throat is another illness you can get and spread from respiratory droplets. Unlike COVID, flu, and RSV, strep throat isn’t caused by a virus. Strep is caused by a type of bacteria called group A strep.

You can also spread group A strep bacteria when people come into contact with someone else’s infected skin sores or fluid from those sores.

To prevent the spread of strep throat:

• Follow the same good hygiene and clean air prevention tips as above.
• Never share glasses, plates, or utensils with others when you’re sick.
• Get tested for strep. If you think you have strep throat, see your doctor to get tested for the bacteria that causes strep. Common symptoms of strep include a sore throat, fever, red or swollen tonsils, and difficulty swallowing.
• Take antibiotics. You need to take antibiotics to get rid of a strep infection. Left untreated, strep can cause serious complications, including rheumatic fever and even heart and kidney damage.
• Stay home from work, school, or day care. According to the CDC, you can return to normal activities with strep when you no longer have a fever without taking fever-reducing medication and you’ve taken antibiotics for at least 12 to 24 hours. Ask your doctor or pharmacist how long you need to stay home after starting antibiotics.