CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Are you experiencing a cough, runny nose, sneezing, or a fever?
Dr. Dumford from the Cleveland Clinic says these are symptoms many people are having just days before Christmas.
"We're just heading into flu season and RSV season," said Dumford. "I expect in the next few weeks we're going to see COVID cases are starting to rise."
According to the Cleveland Clinic, they perform more than 10,000 tests for respiratory viruses per week across Northeast Ohio.
The number of people testing positive for viruses this year is slightly up from last year.
If you're sick right now, the bad news is there's not much your doctor can do to help you at first.
"With the run of the mill viruses, like the common cold, it's just going to take time for things to get better," said Dumford.
But if your symptoms last longer than a week or you have something more serious, you're going to want to call your doctor.
"In situations like the flu or COVID, you can always reach out to your healthcare provider, because there are medicines to shorten the duration of illness," said Dumford.
If your symptoms aren't that severe, you may be looking for an over the counter medication.
Dumford tells 19 News there isn't one medication that is going to be a magic bullet for everyone.
"Unfortunately, this year we've gotten to find that a lot of the over the counter cold medicines, at least in studies, are not as helpful as we think they are," said Dumford.
Back in April, our team told you about how the FDA declared that phenylephrine, a common ingredient in over-the-counter oral decongestants, is essentially a placebo.
Meaning it's not helping you feel better.
The good news, this isn't in all over the counter medications.
"If something does work for you, continue with that," said Dumford.
With all that in mind -- It's time to really ask ourselves how we're feeling, and if its smart to be around people.
Can you put the box of tissues down, or is it too soon and you need to stay home?
"You want to be fever free for at least 24 hours without fever reducing medication and make sure your symptoms are getting better before you start to be around others," said Dumford.
"I can't reiterate enough, if you're not feeling well, think about staying home and putting off some of those holiday plans."