Cold and Flu Season Is Coming: What to Know and How to Prepare

After two severe flu seasons, public health professionals are looking ahead to the next cold and flu season with one central question: how intense could it be? While influenza activity is difficult to predict with certainty, global respiratory virus surveillance can provide early signals that help us all prepare.

Key Takeaways: Early respiratory virus surveillance can help facilities prepare for cold and flu season, but it should not be treated as a definitive forecast. Recent Southern Hemisphere trends may suggest lower influenza and RSV activity than in recent severe seasons, while prevention measures such as hand hygiene, staying home when sick, vaccination, and routine cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces remain important for reducing transmission risk.

The last two flu seasons placed a substantial burden on healthcare systems:

• During the 2024–2025 season, the CDC estimated that approximately 51 million flu-related illnesses resulted in 23 million medical visits and more than 700,000 hospitalizations for severe symptoms.¹
• Preliminary estimates for the 2025–2026 flu season suggest that influenza caused between 32 to 57 million illnesses, resulting in up to 25 million medical visits and 800,000 hospitalizations.²

These estimates do not capture every case of influenza, but they underscore how quickly seasonal respiratory illness can affect communities, workplaces, schools, and healthcare settings. Looking at international surveillance trends, especially from the Southern Hemisphere, can help inform prevention planning before activity increases in the Northern Hemisphere.

What do Southern Hemisphere flu trends suggest about the upcoming cold and flu season?

Because flu seasons occur earlier in the Southern Hemisphere, flu trends can help public health professionals understand possible patterns before flu activity increases in the Northern Hemisphere. These trends are not a perfect forecast, but they can offer useful early signals about timing, severity, and circulating respiratory viruses.

Australia is currently in the middle of their cold and flu season and publish bi-weekly surveillance data. Compared to this time last season, Australia has seen a 73% decrease in influenza activity and the peak in current activity aligns with previous seasons, with an expected decrease in activity following.³ In other parts of the Southern Hemisphere, including temperate and subtropical areas such as Brazil and the Southern Cone region, influenza transmission rates are exceeding the seasonal threshold seen in the previous two seasons, but are expected to continue the typical seasonal pattern of declining activity levels as the season draws to a close.⁴

Other seasonal respiratory viruses, including Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), are also being monitored. Australia is seeing a 16% decrease in RSV activity, while Brazil is observing an approximately 10% decrease compared with the same period last season.^3,5 COVID-19 can peak seasonally but continues to circulate year-round, and current activity remains low and stable.^3,5

Together, these trends may suggest lower activity than the previous two severe flu seasons, but they should not be interpreted as a definitive forecast. Flu severity can still be influenced by factors such as vaccine match, vaccination rates, population immunity, virus evolution and local transmission patterns.

How can facilities help reduce cold and flu transmission?

Prevention strategies can help reduce the spread of cold and flu viruses before and during peak respiratory illness season. Surveillance data can inform planning, but everyday prevention measures, including routine cleaning and disinfection, hand hygiene, staying home when sick, and vaccination, remain important for reducing transmission risk.

Respiratory viruses can spread directly from person to person through coughs and sneezes and indirectly through contact with contaminated surfaces. High-touch surfaces in shared spaces, such as offices, classrooms, healthcare facilities, and other communal areas, may contribute to transmission risk. Research has shown that influenza virus can transfer more easily from smooth, hard surfaces, with frequently touched vertical surfaces such as doorknobs, light switches, faucets and handles at higher risk of contamination.⁶

That is where ready-to-use disinfecting wipes can help. Frequent disinfection of high-touch vertical and horizontal surfaces can be easier to maintain when staff have products that are easy to use and appropriate for the job. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and Clorox EcoClean Disinfecting Wipes are ready-to-use options with EPA-registered kill claims against viruses that cause the common cold, influenza, and other respiratory illnesses helping facilities stay prepared through the cold and flu season and beyond.

While no single strategy can eliminate cold and flu illness, combining surveillance-informed planning with practical prevention measures can help reduce risk. Cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces, along with other public health practices, can support healthier shared environments during respiratory virus season.

Frequently asked questions about cold and flu season

When does cold and flu season typically start? In the United States, cold and flu activity often increases in the fall and winter months (October–March), although timing can vary by season, geography, and circulating viruses.

Can Southern Hemisphere flu trends predict the U.S. flu season?
Southern Hemisphere trends can provide early signals about respiratory virus activity, but they cannot precisely predict the timing, severity or dominant strains of the U.S. flu season.

What are the best ways to prepare for cold and flu season?
Facilities can prepare by supporting vaccination, encouraging hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, asking people to stay home when sick, stocking up on supplies now, and maintaining routine cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces.

Why are high-touch surfaces important during respiratory virus season? Frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs, light switches, faucets, desks, handles, and shared equipment can easily become contaminated and can be part of a layered prevention strategy when cleaned and disinfected appropriately.

What role do disinfecting wipes play in cold and flu prevention?
Ready-to-use disinfecting wipes can make it easier for staff to disinfect high-touch surfaces consistently, especially in shared spaces where respiratory viruses may spread during cold and flu season.