Fall Brings More Than Football
Shorter days, cooler air, changing leaves, and football on television are familiar signs of fall. So is the annual parade of coughs, congestion, and tissues. The return of students to classrooms helps germs move from children to families, coworkers, and just about anyone who happens to share a doorknob. The traditional season for the common cold, influenza, and RSV is approaching, and the respiratory illness season described in the report may already be starting early.
COVID Cases Are Moving Up
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited in the report, COVID-19 cases have increased in every state for the first time since March. The sharpest increases were reported in the South and West. The CDC’s National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System tracks respiratory and enteric virus activity through laboratory data. Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 remain low, but health experts expect cases to continue rising as immunity from earlier infections and vaccinations declines. That makes the current trend worth watching, even if the numbers do not describe the same situation as a major wave of severe illness.
The Usual Suspects Are Returning
COVID-19 is only one part of the seasonal lineup. The common cold, flu, and RSV can spread through droplets from coughing and sneezing, contaminated surfaces, and direct contact followed by touching the eyes, nose, or mouth. Dr. Peter McCullough, as quoted in the report, says rhinovirus can remain on objects such as doorknobs, phones, and keyboards for hours. Symptoms also overlap, which is nature’s way of making self-diagnosis unnecessarily confusing. A cold may bring a runny nose, congestion, sneezing, cough, sore throat, headache, body aches, or a low fever. Flu symptoms often arrive faster and may include fever, chills, fatigue, aches, and headache. COVID-19 can include many of those symptoms, along with shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste, nausea, or vomiting. RSV may cause congestion, coughing, wheezing, fever, and reduced appetite. The report says incubation is commonly 24 to 72 hours, with contagiousness often highest during the first two to three days of symptoms.
Preparedness Moves From Washington to the Household
The report also points to last year’s difficult respiratory illness season, which it describes as one of the worst flu seasons in decades. It says President Trump directed the federal government to build a six-month supply of essential pharmaceuticals, including antivirals and components for more than 80 vital medications. A September 2025 White House fact sheet stated, “To prevent shortages in the future, we are accumulating a six-month supply of essential medications.” The article then turns that federal strategy into a personal preparedness pitch, promoting The Wellness Company’s Contagion Emergency Kit and saying it is helping thousands of Americans stay protected. The supplied article does not provide the kit’s contents or supporting evidence, so that claim is best understood as product promotion, not a substitute for medical guidance. Still, the basic warning is familiar: when respiratory season arrives, waiting until every pharmacy shelf looks picked over is not much of a plan.
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