A person can be contagious before they even realize they have influenza. It's important to know how to prevent getting the flu, so you can avoid spreading it to others.

How Contagious is the Flu?

The influenza virus is present in our communities all year round – but there are times when its activity spikes. Flu season is typically considered to be during the fall and winter months each year, as people spend more time indoors. This pattern repeats itself each year, which is why public health experts advise it’s best to get the flu shot in September or October.

When is Flu Season?

Flu season typically runs from October to February each fall and winter. It's important to make a plan to get the flu shot, especially because of other respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and RSV.

Patient receiving vaccine by medical professional.

6 Things Everyone Should Know About the Flu Shot

Dr. James Grant discusses why it's important to get the flu shot this year. The flu can be a severe (and even deadly) illness.

Flu Season 2024-2025: What You Need to Know

Two Michiganders have been diagnosed with the bird flu, but risk of the virus to the public remains very low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What To Know About the Bird Flu in Michigan

Do you know the difference between a cold and a seasonal allergy? One could last 10 days, the other could bug you for three weeks or more. Each also occurs during specific seasons. 

Is it a Cold or Seasonal Allergies? How to Tell the Difference

The signs of food poisoning and a stomach “bug” are very similar and commonly confused. Knowing the key differences will help you manage the symptoms.

Man sits on his couch clutching his stomach and wearing a blanket wondering if he has food poisoning or a stomach bug

Food Poisoning vs. Stomach Bug: What's the Difference? 

Flu season is beginning to rear its ugly head, and many of us cannot seem to shake the sneezing and coughing. The flu is highly contagious and typically spreads via coughs and sneezes from an infected person. Here's why the flu virus loves the cold.

Why Viruses Love the Cold

No one wants to get sick ahead of some fun time off from work and school, especially around the holidays. The holidays often overlap with flu season. There are preventative measures you can take while traveling to lower your odds of getting sick.

5 Ways to Stay Healthy During Holiday Travel

In addition to COVID and influenza, many people still catch the common cold during fall and winter months. Here are five ways these illnesses overlap, as well as how to tell the difference.

Woman sneezes and checks thermometer for flu symptoms

Is it a Cold, the Flu, or COVID?

As flu season ramps up, now is as good a time as any to learn how viruses spread, both throughout the body and from person to person.

How Viruses Spread

Flu shots are available around you every day – many grocery stores, retail pharmacies, primary care providers and community organizations carry the flu shot and are ready to help. Flu shots can also be received at the same time as the updated COVID vaccine.

6 Easy Ways to Get Your Flu Shot 

Experts are preparing for another tripledemic this coming fall and winter, centered around vaccinations to prevent serious illnesses. As in past years, manufacturers are updating the COVID-19 vaccines to include the most recent variants. And while COVID-19 and influenza immunizations have been available in past years, this year two new RSV vaccines have been endorsed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for older Americans.

How to Prepare Now for the Tripledemic of the Flu, COVID and RSV

For most people, influenza, also known as the flu, is widely thought of as just a respiratory illness. However, researchers and medical professionals are learning more about the connection between the flu and how it can worsen a person’s existing chronic conditions. 

How the Flu Can Make Chronic Conditions Worse

The flu vaccine is especially important for adults who are 65 years and older. Here's some guidance for older adults for the 2023-2024 flu season.

Flu viruses are constantly evolving, so vaccines are updated each season. Older adults are urged to get high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccines.

Flu Shots for Adults Age 65 and Older: What to Know 

For households with children and young people preparing for the start of their school year, there’s often a laundry list of things to prepare at the last minute. With all of this planning and preparation, it’s a good time to add one more important thing to your list: vaccines.

Why Back to School is a Good Time to Get Vaccinated

Zachary Yaksich is concerned about flu shot fatigue. The metro Detroit father has made it his life’s mission to promote seasonal flu vaccines in memory of his five-year-old daughter Alana, who died due to complications from the flu in 2003.

After Losing Child to Flu, Metro Detroit Dad Urges Vaccination Against Flu, COVID

While the flu is not the only respiratory virus floating around right now, getting a flu shot helps to prevent avoidable respiratory-related hospitalizations, and therefore additional stress on hospitals.

This is How a Flu Shot Protects the Recipient and the Community at Large

Keeping up with the recommended schedule of vaccinations is an important part of managing your health. But it can be difficult to remember which vaccines you’ve received – and when.

How to Find Your Michigan Vaccination Record Online

Flu season is here, so it's time to brush up on prevention tips as well as the cold and flu resources available to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan members. 

Resources and Support for Flu Season

We’ve probably all got hand sanitizer left from the COVID-19 pandemic. When does it expire?

When Does Hand Sanitizer Expire?

Our bodies develop immunity against disease in different ways. When we contract relatively mild illnesses like chickenpox and the measles – typically as children – we usually develop natural, lifelong immunity against them after infection activates our immune systems.

When we contract relatively mild illnesses like chickenpox and the measles – typically as children – we usually develop natural, lifelong immunity against them after infection activates our immune systems.  

Active vs. Passive Immunity: What’s the Difference? 

Parents now have more options to keep their child up to date on vaccines. Pharmacies can offer routine shots to children.

Did You Know Children and Teens Can Get Vaccinated at the Pharmacy? 

Recommended immunizations for children and adolescents shift every year based on expert recommendations. Find out how the process works and what goes into ensuring safety.

Why Do Kids Need So Many Shots Today? The Evolution of Vaccine Schedules

Health officials in Michigan have reported an increase in Influenza A activity. Flu activity is still lower than “normal,” but the virus can pose a risk.

Mother on the phone holding her hand to her sick son's forehead worried about Influenza A

Influenza A: What You Need to Know

It’s not all doom and gloom during the winter months. Those frosty temperatures we’re exposed to in the winter can feel brutal, but they can also be beneficial to our health....

Can Cold Weather be Beneficial to our Health?

Can Cold Weather be Beneficial to your Health?  

As multiple generations come together for the holidays, the oldest and youngest members of the family may be more at risk for contracting illnesses.

Video call with family on Christmas day during pandemic

How to Have a Healthy Holiday Season  

Early reports from federal and state health officials indicate the flu has returned and activity is beginning to increase in Michigan.

Young woman sick with the flu sitting on the couch at home looking at a thermometer

Return of the Flu: Activity Increasing in Michigan  

Whether you’re a seasoned snow bird or just planning a weekend escape, it’s important to remember to get your flu shot as you check tasks off your travel to-do list.

Heading South for the Winter? Get Your Flu Shot First

Find a list of clinics where Alana's Foundation is offering free flu shots here. Whenever Zachary Yaksich sees a rainbow arching across a gray sky, he likes to imagine his daughter, Alana, smiling at him. As a child who had just learned about Martin Luther King, Jr.’...

Alana’s Foundation: After Losing 5-Year-Old to Flu, Family Works to Provide Access to Immunizations  

Dr. James Grant, chief medical officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, addresses how the pandemic could affect flu season this year.

Woman Reading Her Temperature on a Thermometer at Home

Fall Flu Forecast: What to Know About the Upcoming Influenza Season 

By: Shanthi Appelö, health and wellness spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Flu season is here and while seasonal strains of the virus are detected year-round in Michigan, infection is most common during the fall and winter months, usually peaking in February....

Building the Body’s Flu Immunity

With both COVID-19 and the flu circulating this fall, it’s critically important that everyone get a flu shot, with rare exceptions for people with pre-existing health conditions. Millions of people in the United States fall ill with influenza annually....

Blue Cross Working to Address Disproportionate Effects of Influenza on Minority Populations

The 2020 flu season is upon us. And this year it’s unlike any other as we tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. For many reasons, it is more important than ever to get a flu shot this year. It’s simply a smart health care choice for our society....

CEO: Getting a flu shot more important than ever this year

Between 9 to 45 million people annually are diagnosed with the flu in the United States, resulting in hospitalizations and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu season begins in October and lasts through February each year. It is considered an annual epidemic....

Blue Cross Partnering to Offer Free Flu Vaccines

Flu Season

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