Data Shows These 2 Fall Viruses Are Elevated Right Now. Here's What Doctors Say You Can Do To Stay Healthy.
Data Shows These 2 Fall Viruses Are Elevated Right Now. Here's What Doctors Say You Can Do To Stay Healthy.
Jillian Wilson Fri, October 30, 2026 at 7:55 PM UTC
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Sniffling and sneezing right now?
While there is a lot of sickness going around this fall (COVID, flu and more), rates of rhinovirus and enterovirus, which are cold-causing illnesses, have been elevated throughout the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control data.
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“This is not unusual for this time of year,” said Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, an infectious disease physician at UChicago Medicine. “We think of these as seasonal respiratory viruses that often start to increase or creep up around the fall, usually when kids are back at school and there’s more indoor activities in general.”
While there is an increase of enterovirus and rhinovirus right now, “I don’t want people to be worried that these are causing spikes in hospitalizations or people getting super sick,” Hazra said. “We typically see this occur at this time of year. So it’s not something that’s a major cause of alarm.”
Still, no one wants to come down with a cold or accidentally spread their sickness to a loved one. Here’s what to know about the symptoms of these viruses and how to keep yourself from getting sick.
These viruses cause typical cold symptoms like cough, runny nose and fever.
“[Rhinovirus and enterovirus] are part of a very large family of closely related viruses that can cause a variety of different syndromes,” said Dr. Ryan Carroll, an infectious diseases physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
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“These two [viruses] are some of the most common viruses that we see circulate in the community, and they cause some of the most common syndromes that we see as well, which are going to be things like the common cold or gastrointestinal illnesses,” Carroll said.
“We typically think of upper respiratory symptoms related to rhinovirus,” Hazra said. This includes congestion, runny noses, coughs and fevers. “Enterovirus is also a respiratory virus,” which can cause coughs, runny noses, congestion and fevers, too, Hazra added.
Beyond cough and congestion, enterovirus can also cause gastrointestinal illness or even lesions on the hands and feet. Specifically, the enterovirus family can cause nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, “but the symptoms are pretty variable,” Carroll added.
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Viruses that cause common cold symptoms are elevated throughout the United States.ozgurcankaya via Getty ImagesTo avoid getting sick, practice good hand hygiene, masking when necessary and vaccination.
Washing your hands well (and frequently) can help keep you from getting illnesses like rhinovirus, enterovirus and other fall viruses such as the flu and COVID, Carroll said. It’s also a good idea to wash your hands well around large groups of people, after using the bathroom, before eating and before touching your face, he noted.
“You may notice hospital systems may start to increase masking in healthcare settings ... masking, depending on what your risk calculus is, is something that’s important to recognize,” Hazra said.
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Wearing a mask can keep you from catching a virus and protect others from catching yours.
“And then getting vaccinated for other respiratory viruses is helpful because sometimes, particularly kids can be co-infected with multiple respiratory viruses,” Hazra said.
Getting your routine vaccinations for viruses like COVID and flu can help protect you against co-infection or “potentially having a really bad case of multiple viruses at once,” Hazra noted.
If you’re one of the many people who come down with a cold this fall or winter (or any upper respiratory virus, for that matter), stay home when you’re sick, he added.
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While these viruses cause common symptoms that can, generally, be treated at home, they do pose a significant risk for certain people, such as those with weakened immune systems or underlying lung disease, Carroll said.
“We want to be very mindful to try to protect those particular community members as much as we can,” he said before stressing the importance of hand-washing and staying away from other people when sick.
It’s a tough time of year for upper respiratory illnesses, but with the right precautions, you can lower your risk of getting sick and lower the chance that you’ll spread your illness on to loved ones.
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