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Preliminary figures from the latest influenza season, fall 2019 to spring 2020, showed between 24,000 and 62,000 people in the U.S. died from the flu. In comparison to the new coronavirus, more than 100,000 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 since it was first detected in the U.S. in January through the end of June. While there are similarities between the new coronavirus and the flu, there are significant differences as well.
Differences
- At-risk populations: People most at-risk for severe flu illness are children, pregnant women, the elderly, individuals who are immunocompromised and those with underlying medical conditions. For COVID-19, those considered to be most at-risk for severe illness are older adults and those with underlying medical conditions. While children are at more risk of getting the flu, school-aged children infected with COVID-19 are at higher risk of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but severe complication of COVID-19.
- Death rate: The death rate for COVID-19 is significantly higher than the flu.
- Speed of transmission: The flu can spread faster than COVID-19 because flu symptoms often occur faster in an infected person than COVID-19. However, COVID-19 has been observed to have more super-spreading events than the flu and may be more contagious among certain populations and age groups.
- Treatments: While there are several antiviral therapeutic medications available to treat the flu, there is only one antiviral agent being explored as a treatment for COVID-19, which is available under an Emergency Use Authorization.
- Virus: COVID-19 is caused by a newly discovered strain of coronavirus, which is called SARS-COV-2. In humans, the flu is caused by two types of virus: influenza A and influenza B.
Similarities
- Symptoms: Both COVID-19 and the flu cause many of the same respiratory disease symptoms, including fever, chills, cough, sore throat, runny nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue.
- Transmission method: Both COVID-19 and the flu are transmitted by droplets through close contact. This means the same precautions will work against both illnesses: frequent hand washing, social distancing and wearing face coverings.
Importance of flu shots in pandemic
Though the flu shot will not protect individuals against COVID-19, the vaccine has many other important benefits. As experts predict strained health care resources from new COVID-19 cases, keeping people healthy from other seasonal illnesses is especially critical. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that increasing the number of people vaccinated — even by five percentage points — could prevent thousands of hospitalizations from the flu.
Each year, the flu shot helps protect individuals against the dominant strains of the flu virus that experts predict will be the most active during the fall, winter and early spring months. The 2020-2021 flu vaccine will soon be available at doctor’s offices, pharmacies and clinics, and the CDC recommends getting the shot as early as September or October.
Dr. S. George Kipa, M.D., is the deputy chief medical officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. For more updates on the coronavirus, visit MIBluesPerspectives.com.