Experts: It’s possible to catch the flu and COVID-19 at the same time
We’ve been dealing with the coronavirus for months. And now the dreaded flu season is upon us. Is it possible that both viruses could infect your body at once?
Yes, you can get the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. But what does that mean?
Health experts are still studying just how common this could be, and what happens if someone gets infected with both. Flu season generally tapers off by April or before, and it wasn’t until March that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic and restrictions were put into place. This fall and winter will be the first time the U.S. may see a potentially significant intersection between the two viruses.
“We don’t have enough experience to really know if it’s a double whammy situation that becomes really difficult to treat,” says Dr. Eric Sachinwalla, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia. “It’s definitely plausible that if someone has both infections, it’s harder for their body to fight that off. And these are two viruses that can potentially cause lung injury and pneumonia.”
The people at increased risk for both illnesses include older adults, people with certain underlying medical conditions, and pregnant people. Doctors are worried about how coinfection with these illnesses will affect an already burdened health care system. It’s a primary reason experts are urging Americans to get the flu shot as soon as possible.
“Our concern is that coinfection may increase duration in the hospital and that makes us concerned about bed availability. If we can try to dampen the transmission of any of these viruses going around, that can help the situation,” says Dr. Patricia Henwood, associate professor of emergency medicine at Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and leader of the Emergency Medicine COVID-19 Task Force at Jefferson Health.
While it appears to be less deadly than the coronavirus, the flu sickens millions every year, and during bad years, hospitals can be inundated. In the 2018-19 U.S. flu season, the CDC estimated that 35.5 million people in the U.S. contracted the flu, 490,600 were hospitalized, and 34,200 died. In 2017-18, a particularly bad year for seasonal flu, an estimated 45 million people caught the virus, with approximately 810,000 being hospitalized and 61,000 dying of flu-related complications, the CDC reported.
Experts are, however, hoping that everything people are doing to prevent getting the coronavirus, like mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing, could also protect many people from getting the flu this year. And the push for everyone (six months and older) to get a flu vaccine is stronger than ever.