COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

Are you having a runny nose, fever, cough, and itchy eyes and suspect that you have coronavirus? The good news is that having these symptoms does not always mean that a person is a COVID-19 positive. But if a person develops more symptoms eventually, he might have it. Then again, there is a high chance that it is just the seasonal flu and not COVID-19 at all.

Despite both of them being respiratory illnesses, seasonal flu and COVID-19 are two different diseases. Because the second wave of coronavirus and flu season is coinciding, it is possible to confuse the symptoms. First, the best is to reach out to the nearest healthcare unit if there are any corona-specific symptoms. But if you want to be sure about your condition, read this comparison of COVID-19 vs. seasonal flu to figure out which one you have.

COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

Similarities And Differences In Symptoms

Both seasonal flu and COVID-19 have several similar signs, including fever, sore throat, cough, nasal congestion, body pains, and diarrhea. However, flu does not cause severe or distinctive coronavirus symptoms such as difficulty in breathing. The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also confirms a loss of taste or loss of smell in COVID-19 patients is not seen in flu patients.

Unlike COVID-19, the symptoms of flu show up spontaneously and vanish within a couple of weeks. Only a few people experience flu for a more extended period or its complications, such as pneumonia. The CDC confirms the hospitalization rate of seasonal flu as 69 people per 100,000 cases, far less than COVID-19 cases.

In COVID-19, there is no clear picture regarding the symptoms as they show up differently in every person. Secondly, the majority of the cases of COVID-19 are asymptomatic, which means they do not show any known signs of the infection. For others, it could be mild to severe symptoms, including chills, fever, muscle pain, and skin rashes. These symptoms develop gradually, especially after attending a gathering or coming into contact with an infected person.

One of the similarities between the flu virus and coronavirus is that they are highly contagious and transmitted from one person to another within minutes.

COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

Severity of Symptoms

Typically, all older people are at high risk of COVID-19 complications.  Additionally, U.S Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified certain high-risk groups such as heart patients, diabetic patients, older adults, pregnant women, and those with other existent medical conditions. The onset of symptoms, duration, and severity of symptoms in people from these risk groups are more intense, drastic, and dangerous than the rest.

The severity of COVID-19 symptoms is typically marked by the hospitalization rate. CDC has identified this hospitalization rate in the United States to be nearly 50 cases per 100,000 people in May, which gradually increased in the next months. It also reported the hospitalization rate to be more than double for people over 65 years of age. On the other side, only a limited number of people have been identified and hospitalized with flu this year. Surprisingly, coronavirus infection in children was not as common as in adults.

Flu virus mostly affects children, and many of them end up at hospitals seeking intense medical care.  A study on coronavirus published earlier this year revealed that nearly 12% of the confirmed coronavirus cases required hospitalization, and only less than 1% of them were children.  Some other studies confirmed a different type of inflammation in coronavirus positive children. It was later identified as a pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. It was confirmed in hundreds of children in the US alone.  Now that flu season has started, knowing the difference between flu and COVID-19 is essential to be safe from either of them.

Risk Of Death In COVID-19 And Flu

Not many people know, but the flu virus is responsible for 0.1% of annual deaths reported in the US. The majority of this number are people who choose to ignore their symptoms, do not get treatment on time, and develop a co-existing infection leading to death.

Comparing it with COVID-19, there is no actual data on the average death rate by coronavirus as it has only emerged for the first time. However, one thing is clear that this death rate by COVID-19 is much higher than flu-related deaths, as this pandemic is soon to complete one year of on-going infections. The death rate by coronavirus can differ in different counties, states, and even countries with so many factors influencing it, such as age, medical history, and immunity.

The death rate by COVID-19 is 6%, which means 6% of all confirmed coronavirus cases have lost their lives to this virus. But this fatality rate is somehow limited for various reasons. For example, not all coronavirus cases are reported and confirmed, and there are high chances that thousands of cases or deaths are never identified or tested. Columbia University has published a study predicting that only 1 out of 12 COVID-19 patients are properly documented.  Secondly, there are testing limitations allowing a few numbers of people to access coronavirus testing only.

Additionally, cases showing mild symptoms or asymptomatic patients and not properly studied. People who die without any apparent cause are mostly not checked for having coronavirus inside their bodies. The limited medical facilities are also a problem, and despite spending months in this pandemic, the healthcare response is still not up to the mark, which was expected. As a result, there are chances of thousands of cases not reported, or people not made eligible for testing, or deaths not been confirmed with the underlying cause. Due to all these reasons, the death rate for COVID-19 is not established yet, and it changes as per daily/weekly reported cases. 

Competing this number with flu-related deaths, this number is more than six times higher, showing that coronavirus caused deaths are much higher than deaths by flu.

COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

Prevention and Control

Every year, 1 billion people are diagnosed with flu, as per the World Health Organization.  According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu virus attacks approximately 8% of the US population. But right now, up to 80% of the US population has COVID-19, and many of them have recovered from it.  The flu vaccine is available to reduce the annual cases, but the COVID-19 vaccine is still in trials, and there is no information on when it would be available.  Nearly 241,797 people have lost their lives by COVID-19, and the daily cases are still increasing. Still, there is no death rate or infection rate established for coronavirus. Now that the pandemic has entered into the annual flu season, health experts warn about these two infections' co-existing predicting more people would lose their lives.

The flu season is not any less bad than a pandemic, if not equal, but a pandemic causes more destruction, which may last for years after its end. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus spread as a ‘pandemic’ while the last flu pandemic was recorded in 2009, Swine flu, which killed 575,000 people worldwide.

There are many Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medicines for treating flu, i.e., rimantadine (Flumadine), oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and zanamivir (Relenza). But there is no FDA-approved medicine for coronavirus except redeliver, an existing medicine that helped reduce the severity of COVID-19. There is no other medicine available.

COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

Similarities with Allergy Symptoms

Sometimes the flu and COVID-19 symptoms are also confused with allergies, which also induce similar signs. But allergies never result in fever or chills, or cough unless the symptoms last for weeks and are left untreated. But this problem was much more highlighted in March, April, which is typically the time of allergy season. At that time, the coronavirus information was less clear, and most of the health experts were trying to save people’s lives, so the confusion was also much higher. After spending a few months in this pandemic, one thing is clear that COVID-19 and allergies symptoms can be easily identified separately. On the other side, common cold or flu symptoms are much more generalized, and neither coronavirus nor flu is triggered by environmental factors, which is true for allergies. CDC updated the online information and issued guidelines on identifying the difference between COVID-19 and seasonal allergies to help people understanding their symptoms. Symptoms like breathing, persistent cough, loss of smell, and taste are associated with coronavirus and sneezing, congestion, itchy eyes, runny nose with or without a fever representing allergy symptoms.

COVID 19 Vs Seasonal Flu Difference Between Coronavirus and Flu Symptoms

The Final Word

The typical recovery time for COVID-19 is between two to four weeks. Flu virus needs up to one week for complete recovery, and seasonal allergies are generally improved within minutes after taking anti-allergic medicines. The symptoms of the common cold and seasonal allergies are more temporary and not as severe. While flu causes between 12,000-61,000 deaths in the US, the death rate by COVID-19 is much higher than this.

Any person who suspects having COVID-19 immediately needs to self-isolate and seek immediate medical care if symptoms become severe. If he belongs to the high-risk group, there are more chances for him to develop complications. However, there is no such need for the flu, and most people feel better with self-care only.