COVID-19 & Influenza

              For this blog post, I wanted to talk about this year’s flu season because it has been overshadowed by COVID-19 in the media. It was quite difficult to find any articles just discussing the flu, but I did find some interesting information about the flu in a context alongside COVID-19. In my opinion, the measures taken against COVID-19 will help and hurt the numbers of people affected by other diseases this month. Immunocompromised individuals who are taking the precautions seriously should benefit from the decreased interactions between people. This lack of interaction will help them avoid falling ill from other infectious diseases as well, such as the flu. Many businesses are also doing their part to help people be able to stay home. On the other hand, crowded hospitals will make hospital visits more dangerous for immunocompromised people who do happen to fall ill during this time.

              According to a recent article, 32 million people have gotten the flu in America since flu season began in September. In comparison, fewer than 600,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the US. With that being said, more people have died from COVID-19 (21,000) than from the flu (18,000) since flu season began in America. We have much less fear surrounding the flu because there are vaccines and treatments available. Also, we have had a lot more time to research the influenza virus, so we know more about how our body reacts to it and how it spreads. Another concern with the novel coronavirus, there is no natural immunity because no one had been exposed to it previously.

              I found another article that highlighted the similarities and differences between the flu and COVID-19. Many of the symptoms of these 2 diseases overlap, such as fever, dry cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Both the flu and COVID-19 can be spread through droplets and fomites, so similar precautions should be taken to avoid transmission of either. An important difference between the two if that COVID-19 has a much higher hospitalization rate than the flu, and it causes a higher percentage of serious cases. If precautions are not followed for COVID-19, the numbers will quickly surpass those of the flu because it is more contagious and more deadly.