With flu season already hitting hard in parts of the world and COVID-19 still going around, public health experts are sounding the alarm that this could be a rough season for respiratory illnesses.

The colder months typically bring a rise in sicknesses like the flu and COVID. But this year, doctors are trying to respond without the usual data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which stopped being released when the government shutdown began at the start of October.

“As an infectious disease specialist, I look to the CDC for guidance in terms of early signals that there’s something going on in my area of practice,” said Dr. Linda Nabha, of the University of Pittsburgh.

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