What to know
- Timely treatment of a respiratory virus can help make symptoms less severe and prevent complications, especially for those at higher risk.
- Understanding your risk and available treatment options can help you make informed decisions about your health and well-being.
- Seeking healthcare promptly for timely treatment, if needed, is a core prevention strategy to lower your risk of severe illness due to respiratory viruses.
How it works
Treatments for COVID-19 and for flu can lessen symptoms and shorten the time you are sick. They also may reduce the risk of complications, including those that can result in hospitalization. For people with risk factors for severe illness early treatment can mean having milder illness.
Steps you can take
- Know the treatment options for flu and COVID-19 before you get sick.
- Talk with a healthcare provider about planning to access treatment in advance of when you might need it.
- Talk with friends and family about how antiviral treatment could help reduce their chances of being hospitalized or dying from respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and flu.
- Take all treatments as prescribed.
- Talk to a healthcare provider about any questions you have about treatments.
Steps organizations can take
- Share educational materials about respiratory virus treatment options.
- Provide employees with paid time off to seek treatment for a respiratory virus, as needed.
Resources
- If you're a healthcare provider, you can find clinical guidance resources for testing and treatment in the healthcare provider respiratory illness toolkit.
Notice
CDC offers separate, specific guidance for healthcare settings (COVID-19, flu, and general infection prevention and control). Federal civil rights laws may require reasonable modifications or reasonable accommodations in various circumstances. Nothing in this guidance is intended to detract from or supersede those laws.