The United States might be in for a bleak fall season as the coronavirus pandemic will only continue, mixing with the much-dreaded flu season. And, according to experts, some Americans may have both illnesses at once.
What’s going on:
Dr. Adrian Burrowes, a family medicine physician in Florida, recently told CNN that you can catch both at once.
- “You can certainly get both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time, which could be catastrophic to your immune system.”
In fact, getting one of the illnesses could make you more vulnerable to the other disease, epidemiologist Dr. Seema Yasmin told CNN.
- “Once you get infected with the flu and some other respiratory viruses, it weakens your body.”
- “Your defenses go down, and it makes you vulnerable to getting a second infection on top of that.”
The flu and COVID-19 both impact the lungs, and are known to have cause pneumonia and respiratory failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Flu vs. COVID-19:
Of course, the symptoms for COVID-19 and the flu are much different. Here’s a breakdown of the symptoms and how they appear, as I originally wrote for Deseret.com.
Influenza
- Symptoms begin abruptly.
- Symptoms last five to seven days.
- Symptoms get worse.
- Body aches.
- Chills.
- Dry cough.
- Nasal congestion.
- Exposure to germs.
- Fatigue and weakness.
- Fever.
- Headaches.
- Sore throat.
- Runny nose.
- Sneezing.
- Shortness of breath.
- Sometimes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
- Sometimes loss of taste or smell.
- Sometimes repeated shaking from chills.
COVID-19
- Symptoms begin within 14 days of exposure.
- Symptoms last at different times per person.
- Sometimes repeated shaking from chills.
- Dry cough.
- Exposure to germs.
- Fatigue and weakness.
- Fever.
- Loss of taste or smell.
- Shortness of breath.
- Symptoms get worse.
- Sometimes body aches.
- Sometimes chills.
- Sometimes headaches.
- Sometimes sneeze.
- Sometimes sore throat.
- Sometimes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
- Sometimes repeated shaking from chills.
- Nasal congestion is less common.
- Runny nose is less common.