The flu is not anything to sneeze at. It kills about 10,000 people of five years and older each year in South Africa. While thatâs a relatively small number compared with the past yearâs COVID-19 deaths, itâs still a heavy toll.
Comparing COVID-19 and the fluÂ
Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new coronavirus (called SARS-CoV-2), and flu is caused by infection with influenza viruses. Like SARS-CoV-2, flu is transmitted by hitching a lift on droplets from the upper respiratory tract, and by people transferring virus-carrying droplets by hand from surfaces to their nose, mouth and eyes. COVID-19 seems to spread more easily than flu and causes more serious illnesses in some people. It can also take longer before people show symptoms and people can be contagious for longer.
The impact of COVID-19 on the flu
Just like COVID-19, the flu virus transmission is prevented through masking, physical distancing, avoiding poorly ventilated indoor areas, good hand hygiene and isolating. Therefore, unsurprisingly, much fewer cases of the flu were reported in 2020 â both during lockdown, and afterwards (due to the COVID-19 hygiene practises in place). You may have even noticed that you havenât had the same number of colds over the past year?
What this tells us is that basic principles are effective in preventing the transmission of germs that cause the common cold, the flu and even COVID-19. This is important because, as winter approaches, we donât want to be faced with the prospect of a âdouble disease whammyâ, COVID-19 plus the flu.
Preventing a âdouble whammyâ
While waiting for the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine to gather some pace, here are 3 other ways you can improve your overall health and lower the risk of catching COVID-19 or the flu this winter.
- Follow basic COVID-19 regulations
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- Wash your hands
- Santitise
- Wear a mask
- Social distance
- Donât attend large gatherings
- Maintain a healthy immune system
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- Eat well
- Move more
- Make sleep a priority
- Manage your stress
- Expose yourself to some daily sunshine
- Get vaccinated: have an annual flu jab and accept a COVID-19 jab when it becomes available
Both the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine are safe and effective. By having the flu jab, your risk of developing any severe complications, if you do happen to get flu, is reduced. This means you wonât be putting any strain on the health system. It also means that if you DO present with severe complications, your doctor can more easily exclude flu as a possible factor. Second, it lowers your risk of getting flu which automatically lowers your immunity. With a lower immunity, youâre more likely to pick up other infections⌠and in this case, COVID-19. Little information is available on the severity of COVID-19 and other viral co-infections. But a recent report suggests that influenza and COVID-19 co-infections may result in more severe disease in high-risk patients and complicate the diagnoses.