Coronavirus FAQ: It's cold and flu season — and COVID season! How do I stay unsick?
NPRCoronavirus FAQ: It's cold and flu season — and COVID season! It's certainly true that the flu did not spread much last year: Just.2% of respiratory specimens from clinical labs and public health departments participating in national disease surveillance tested positive for flu during the 2020-2021 season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to between 26.2% and 30.3% for the previous three seasons. "People try not to get the flu every year," Karan says, and that's probably a good thing. "There's a pretty good chance right now of running into someone with a cold, flu" or another respiratory virus, she says. Even when COVID-19 subsides, she hopes "people will still sit out if they don't feel well, wash their hands regularly and if you're around elderly or immunocompromised people regularly, wear a mask when you go out and about" — at least during flu season.