This flu season has been the worst season the country has seen in at least 15 years. According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been upwards of 24 million cases, 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths.
And we aren’t out of the woods yet. Flu rates are currently dropping from their peak, but many states still have high levels of flu, and that’ll likely be the case for some time. The flu “certainly is still around,” said Dr. Beth Thielen, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Don’t be deceived by the changing weather, either. “I think we see quite a tail out into the spring, and people should be aware that flu circulates around the globe year-round,” Thielen said.
That means there are still plenty of chances you could get sick. And if you are exposed, you might wonder how long it’ll take before the symptoms smack you (if they do at all). Below, medical experts share just how long it takes to come down with the flu after being exposed and what to do if you do get sick:
It takes one to four days to get sick with the flu after being exposed to the virus.
The typical flu incubation period, which is the time it takes from being exposed to a virus to coming down with symptoms, is “somewhere between one and four days,” Thielen said. “Maybe a peak around two days.”
Exactly when you get sick does vary but “when you look at the collective data that is looking at household exposures, the mean time usually is around three days,” noted Elisabeth Marnik, a scientist and contributor for Those Nerdy Girls, an online resource for factual health and science information.
“We list it as a range because there are sometimes exceptions. Some people get it faster, and for some reason, some people get it a little bit later. But I would say that two to three days would be the typical exposure window,” Marnik noted.
Flu spreads through respiratory droplets, which spray when someone coughs or sneezes, Thielen said. So if you are sick (or someone in your household is), it’s a good idea to wear a mask or stay entirely away from others.
The virus also spreads through touch. “If somebody coughs or sneezes and then touches a surface like a light switch or a doorknob, they are leaving behind that flu virus on those surfaces that someone else can come along and pick up,” Thielen added. This makes proper hand washing important, as well.
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