Emergency?Trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, a seizure, or a child who is hard to wake: call 911 or go to an emergency department now.All warning signs
FluHubWeek ending Sep 26, 2026

Symptom check

How soon should you get care?

Answer five questions about yourself or the person you are caring for. You will get a plain-language next step based on CDC guidance. This is not a diagnosis, and nothing you enter leaves your device.

Clinical editor Parth Bhavsar, MDFollows CDC warning signs, high-risk list, and antiviral guidanceSources checked October 5, 2026
1. How old is the person who is sick?
2. Are any of these happening right now?

These are CDC's emergency warning signs. If any apply, the check stops here.

For a child

For an adult

3. Which symptoms are there?
4. When did symptoms start, and how are they going?
5. Do any of these apply?

Conditions that raise the risk of flu complications.[2]

How this check decides

  1. Any emergency warning sign, or any fever in a baby under 3 months: get medical care right away.
  2. Higher risk with flu symptoms (under 5, 65 or older, pregnant or recently pregnant, or a listed condition): contact a clinician today. CDC recommends antiviral treatment as soon as possible for these groups; after 48 hours a clinician may still treat, and CDC recommends it at any point if illness is severe or worsening.[4]
  3. Symptoms getting worse at any point: contact a clinician today. Worsening illness is treated regardless of how long it has lasted.[4]
  4. Otherwise healthy and within 2 days of flu-like illness: a clinician can consider an antiviral, which shortens illness by about a day.[5] Rest at home is also reasonable.
  5. Otherwise healthy, past 2 days, improving: rest at home and watch for warning signs.

A new loss of taste or smell is more typical of COVID-19, which has its own treatments with a 5 to 7 day window; a test can tell them apart.[7]

Sources

  1. CDC. Signs and Symptoms of Flu (emergency warning signs), updated August 26, 2024.
  2. CDC. People at Increased Risk for Flu Complications, updated September 11, 2024.
  3. CDC. Flu and Children, updated June 16, 2026.
  4. CDC. Influenza Antiviral Medications: Summary for Clinicians, updated March 10, 2026.
  5. CDC. Treatment of Flu, updated September 2, 2025.
  6. CDC. Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You're Sick, updated August 18, 2025.
  7. CDC. Similarities and Differences between Flu and COVID-19, updated September 17, 2024.