A patient in California was recently diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and the seasonal flu, marking one of the first reported cases of someone having both illnesses.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the patient — a health care worker who is under 65 years old — had no underlying health conditions. The patient has reportedly recovered.
- “We now have flu in our community at the same time we have COVID,” Solano County health officer Bela Matyas told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Contracting either disease may weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to the other disease.”
Experts remain unsure how the two diseases interact with each other since it hasn’t been a wide occurrence yet during the pandemic, The Daily Beast reports. But they suggest it’s probably not great.
- “Getting a flu vaccine this year is more important than ever,” Matyas said.
Bigger picture:
Scientists have said for months now that the fall will bring a “perfect storm” of the flu and the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concern about how people will make it through a hard winter, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said recently the people need to remain vigilant this fall.
- “The big concern this year, of course, is that we are going to see what could be a perfect storm of accelerated COVID-19 activity as people gather more inside, in particular, as they become continually fatigued with the mask wearing, the social distancing, and the hand hygiene, and as they are exposed to seasonal influenza,” Marrazzo said.
- This “perfect storm” could push hospitals to full capacity as those with the flu and COVID-19 seek care.