--- title: These Respiratory Viruses Are Going Around in Spring 2023 description: If you're sick but testing negative for COVID-19 and the flu, you may be sick with another respiratory virus, like human metapneumovirus. canonical: https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-20T18:44:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:21.174Z article:section: Health og:title: Sick With Something That Isn't COVID-19 or the Flu? Here's What It Might Be og:description: HMPV is causing a high percentage of positives among test results tracked by the CDC og:url: https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt499863db7b5146d7/698a3b40d07533a78de6dd86/negative-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2128 og:image:height: 1197 og:image:alt: A negative COVID-19 antigen test og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sick With Something That Isn't COVID-19 or the Flu? Here's What It Might Be twitter:description: HMPV is causing a high percentage of positives among test results tracked by the CDC twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt499863db7b5146d7/698a3b40d07533a78de6dd86/negative-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sick With Something That Isn't COVID-19 or the Flu? Here's What It Might Be > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=96e63d33-8055-4018-aa20-9c87bd613a4c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | Subscribers | Open rate | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | 540,000 | 45.6% | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | 430,000 | 50.7% | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Daily | 240,000 | 54.1% | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | 40,000 | 31.7% | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | 85,000 | 37.0% | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | 40,000 | 34.2% | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | 25,000 | 28.6% | Source: TIME, August 2026. Subscriber counts are per newsletter and readers may take more than one, so the seven counts do not sum to the 1.1 million+ unique newsletter audience. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Highest open rate | 54.1%, Health Matters | TIME, August 2026 | | Largest list | 540,000, The Brief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=96e63d33-8055-4018-aa20-9c87bd613a4c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=96e63d33-8055-4018-aa20-9c87bd613a4c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (daily health), Worth Your Time (culture, twice weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Watch: A Legacy of TIME100 Pioneers [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: A Legacy of TIME100 Pioneers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OKBbLLJa.m3u8) (2:56)  _Published 2023-04-12. Billie Eilish, Gregory Robinson and Sandra Oh have all been TIME100 Pioneers—examples of what it takes to be a leader who pioneers new ways of thinking in the world._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 20, 2023 6:44 PM UTC  Antigen test close up, negative, single line Antigen test close up, negative, single line Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 20, 2023 6:44 PM UTC [Flu season is wrapping up](https://time.com/6257808/flu-shot-effectiveness-2023/), and [weekly COVID-19 diagnoses](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends%5Fweeklycases%5Fselect%5F00) are declining. But if you’re currently sick with a respiratory illness, you’re not alone. [Data](https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/index.html) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that a mixture of respiratory viruses are circulating right now, including common coronaviruses (other than SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19), respiratory adenovirus, and parainfluenza (which is distinct from influenza). All of these viruses can cause cold-like symptoms including fever, runny nose, sore throat, and cough, so “it’s very, very hard to tell the difference between any of them clinically,” says Dr. Helen Chu, an associate professor of infectious disease at the University of Washington and a principal investigator at the Seattle Flu Alliance, which tracks respiratory disease spread. ([Norovirus](https://time.com/6254385/norovirus-outbreak-treatment-symptoms/) and rotavirus are also going around right now, but they cause gastrointestinal issues such as vomiting and diarrhea.) While lots of viruses are spreading right now, one respiratory virus is currently causing a particularly high percentage of positives among test results tracked by the CDC: human metapneumovirus (HMPV). More than 20% of antigen and 10% of PCR tests voluntarily reported to the CDC by U.S. laboratories during the week of March 11 came back positive, [the agency’s data show](https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/hmpv/natl-trend.html). “It is important to note that this is expected respiratory activity for these viruses for this time of year,” a CDC representative told TIME, noting that the agency is also tracking rises in adenovirus and parainfluenza. --- ### More from TIME --- Dr. John Williams, who is chief of infectious diseases at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and has studied HMPV for more than 20 years, agrees that an uptick in HMPV is not surprising. In North America, HMPV’s peak season is typically February to May, a bit after the typical flu season, he says. This season, “we saw an [above-normal surge of RSV](https://time.com/6226678/rsv-virus-kids-babies-symptoms/) and [above-normal surge of flu](https://time.com/6248365/flu-influenza-winter-2023-bad-covid-19/),” Williams says. “Knowing the seasonality of metapneumovirus, I said, ‘I bet we’re going to see a similar surge of metapneumovirus.’ And, in fact, we are.” Plenty of people have likely had HMPV without ever knowing what it was, since it typically results in familiar cold-like symptoms like cough, fever, and nasal congestion. In serious cases—which are most common among young children and elderly or immunocompromised adults—HMPV can also lead to complications including bronchitis and pneumonia, according to the CDC. Some people also experience shortness of breath. It’s difficult to say if this year’s HMPV season is worse than usual, says Dr. Ann Falsey, a professor of medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, because “we test a lot more now. People are very attuned to getting a swab” after three years of the pandemic. Still, many cases of HMPV likely go undetected, Williams says. These days, clinicians commonly test for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, or RSV if they see a patient with a respiratory illness. Some tests can pick up HMPV, but they tend to be expensive and used less frequently. Researchers won’t fully understand how widely viruses like HMPV spread without broader testing, Falsey says. And if doctors don’t know why a patient is sick they may unnecessarily prescribe antibiotics, she says, which can contribute to [antibiotic resistance](https://time.com/4766111/superbugs-antibiotic-resistance/). But Chu says it’s not always necessary for patients to know exactly which illness they have. It’s valuable to test for SARS-CoV-2 and influenza because [there are treatments](https://time.com/6198667/paxlovid-who-should-take-covid-19/) for those conditions, Chu says. Screening for RSV also makes sense because it can cause severe disease, especially among young kids. But if those viruses have been ruled out, Chu says there’s usually no need to test further, since there aren’t specific treatments for HMPV and many of the other respiratory viruses that circulate during a normal cold and flu season. Williams says there may be vaccines and treatments for more respiratory viruses in the future. But if you’re sick with an unknown illness right now, follow tried-and-true advice: [get plenty of rest](https://time.com/6215346/covid-19-rest-helps/), take over-the-counter medications for your symptoms, seek medical care if they become severe, and stay home to avoid infecting anybody else. And, Falsey says, remember that many of the disease-prevention tactics used during the pandemic may [work against other viruses](https://time.com/5952051/masks-after-pandemic-ends/), too. “Now that we’re all out circulating again, all these different viruses will be at us again,” she says. “If you are particularly frail or have underlying medical conditions, we did learn that masking works if you’re in a crowded place.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/"},"headline":"Sick With Something That Isn't COVID-19 or the Flu? Here's What It Might Be","datePublished":"2023-03-20T18:44:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:51:21.174Z","description":"Here's what it might be.","url":"https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/","keywords":["Disease","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt499863db7b5146d7/698a3b40d07533a78de6dd86/negative-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt499863db7b5146d7/698a3b40d07533a78de6dd86/negative-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A negative COVID-19 antigen test","caption":"A negative COVID-19 antigen test","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/disease/","name":"Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/","name":"Sick With Something That Isn't COVID-19 or the Flu? Here's What It Might Be"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: A Legacy of TIME100 Pioneers","description":"Billie Eilish, Gregory Robinson and Sandra Oh have all been TIME100 Pioneers—examples of what it takes to be a leader who pioneers new ways of thinking in the world.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OKBbLLJa/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-12T12:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OKBbLLJa.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/","duration":"PT2M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6264539/respiratory-virus-not-covid-spring-2023/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```