If it feels like everyone you know has already gotten sick recently, you’re not imagining it.
As Vox senior health correspondent Dylan Scott reports in his latest for Vox, we’re heading into one of the strangest, most chaotic cold and flu seasons in recent memory — a winter shaped as much by germs as by politics and confusion.
With federal health agencies downplaying or muddying vaccine guidance, many of the usual guardrails that help us navigate virus season have fallen away. Fewer people are getting their annual flu shot, Covid boosters are harder to get, and RSV protection for kids isn’t landing the way experts hoped. Meanwhile, the viruses themselves are already having a banner year.
But even without a clear playbook from Washington, you still have real power to protect yourself — even in our unsettling era of DIY healthcare. Dylan’s story walks through what that looks like in practice: how to think about your personal risk, how to align expectations with family and friends before sniffles start spreading, and which trusted local resources can help you stay grounded in facts rather than fear.
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—Paige Vega, senior climate and Future Perfect editor
