Cold season tips: How to avoid catching COVID and flu during the holidays

Americans don't appear to be getting sick with respiratory illnesses just yet, according to federal health data.

But as people begin gathering indoors for the holidays, that will change. Fall and winter months will likely deliver an uptick in COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, infections across the U.S., as they do annually.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said this season will probably have as many or fewer hospitalizations caused by respiratory viruses than last year. In a recent update, federal health officials said the winter peak of COVID-19 will likely be higher than the summer wave of transmission in August.

In other words, it’s time to start planning before you travel to see friends and family, young and old, or they visit your place.

“My family and friends are tired of me telling them” about it, Dr. Jesse Bracamonte, a family physician at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, told USA TODAY. “But it’s important because respiratory season happens every fall season, every winter season, particularly during the holidays. The last thing you want is to be sick during important times, with your family and friends gathering.”

Here are some simple steps to avoid getting sick and passing on a potentially debilitating illness to others.

Get vaccinated

The updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines are safe and available to everyone 6 months or older. Getting them before the holidays can help lower the risk of illness. It can also prevent you from getting a severe form of respiratory illness that results in hospitalization or death.

The RSV vaccine is also available to elderly people, pregnant women and infants. Once you've gotten one vaccine you likely have protection for years to come, public health officials say.

Wash your hands

Good hygiene goes a long way.

Wet your hands, lather with soap, and scrub for at least 20 seconds and rinse them before drying with a clean towel or air dryer.

Frequent hand washing helps reduce your chance of spreading a virus when you cough, sneeze or touch your face. Hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol also kills the germs.

Additionally, if you cover your coughs and sneezes you'll limit the spread of germs.

If you’re sick, stay home

The CDC’s updated guidance for isolating during a COVID-19 infection closely resembles its guidance for other respiratory illnesses: Stay at home if you have symptoms of respiratory virus. The symptoms of infection include fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose and headaches.

People can return to normal activities if, after a full day, their symptoms are improving and they no longer have a fever (and haven't taken fever-reducing medication).

But people can still spread a virus after they've recovered. The CDC recommends taking the precaution of five additional days of keeping your germs away from others, including using face masks, physically distancing, testing and getting fresh or purified air.

People should monitor their symptoms. If you have trouble breathing or chest pain, seek emergency medical care.

What about walking pneumonia?

In October, the CDC alerted about a rise in cases of “walking pneumonia,” a less severe form of bacterial pneumonia. The symptoms include cough, malaise, tiredness and wheezing. It particularly affects young people and they sometimes seem better than expected for someone with a lung infection.

Walking pneumonia can spread through droplets when someone coughs or sneezes, the germs linger in the air and others breathe them in, the CDC said. This bacterial illness can be prevented using the same precautions you would for respiratory viruses: hand-washing, covering up when you cough or sneeze and staying home when sick.

Bracamonte, from Mayo Clinic, said to protect your immune system, you should get regular exercise, sleep well and decrease stress.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID, flu, RSV will likely spike in winter: Tips to stay healthy