[ad_1]
With the coronavirus pandemic still at the forefront of our minds, we must now deal with the time of year when cold and flu cases start to spike.
© Scott Schild | [email protected]/Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse./syracuse.com/TNS
Steve Yeager prepares a flu shot at the Wegmans drive-thru Flu Vaccination Clinic at the New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes, NY on Saturday, October 3, 2020. r r r r
It is important to stay alert by washing your hands, wearing a mask, and staying home if you are sick.
But if you feel bad, how can you tell what illness you have?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks at the differences in these highly contagious respiratory diseases.
People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose, and their symptoms are usually milder than those of the flu. Colds generally do not cause serious health problems, such as pneumonia, bacterial infections, or hospitalization.
Flu and Covid-19 can lead to serious illness and complications.
Both influenza and Covid-19 generally share symptoms of a dry cough, fever, chills, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, and fatigue.
Loss of taste and smell and shortness of breath (without underlying conditions like asthma) are also prevalent symptoms of Covid-19.
Diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting can sometimes be symptoms of the flu and also Covid-19.
The onset of the flu is usually dramatic (with symptoms appearing within 1 to 4 days) while Covid-19 has proven to be a more subtle onset. People with coronavirus may show no symptoms from two days after infection to 14 days after infection. The time interval may vary.
People with a cold and flu typically show symptoms for 14 days or less, while people with coronavirus can show symptoms for seven to 25 days.
It is frustrating that some people infected with Covid-19 do not show any symptoms.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America provides a useful chart for tracking symptoms commonly seen in Covid-19, colds, flu, allergies, or asthma.
There is currently no vaccine to prevent Covid-19. The best way to avoid infection is to avoid exposure to the virus.
The flu vaccine is the most important way to prevent seasonal flu.
The CDC consistently recommends that people get a flu shot in late October. That could help prevent hospitals from filling up with flu and coronavirus patients at the same time.
If you get the vaccine, you will also get the flu, said Dr. Jarrod Bagatell of Upstate Medical University, that the vaccine will lessen your symptoms.
“It makes it a little more tolerable than it might have been if he hadn’t had a flu shot,” said Bagatell, who leads Upstate’s flu vaccination effort. “So I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t take the opportunity to be less ill than they could be.”
The flu is more dangerous and life-threatening than many people think, said Dr. Steven Thomas, chief of infectious diseases at Upstate Medical University.
The flu killed 188 children in the US during the 2019-2020 flu season, according to the CDC. Only 21% of children nationwide were fully vaccinated against the flu in 2019-2020, according to the CDC. The coronavirus killed 103 children in the US as of September 10, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Overall, the flu killed more than 24,000 people of all ages and led to more than 410,000 hospitalizations last season.
James Mulder contributed to this report.
MORE HEALTH NEWS
? Syracuse and Cornell Require Flu Vaccines for Students to Avoid ‘Twin’ Flu and Coronavirus
? Syracuse University fights to contain the coronavirus outbreak and keep classrooms open
? Syracuse University students could face penalties for off-campus parties
———
© 2020 Syracuse Media Group, NY
Visit Syracuse Media Group, NY at www.syracuse.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Keep reading
