Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, there's significant potential for
Speaker 1: a twin deemic as flu season looms and the COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen pandemic continues. So this fall and winter, when you
Speaker 1: feel sniffles and a scratchy throat start to come on,
Speaker 1: it's going to be only natural for you to wonder
Speaker 1: what ails you, influenza or COVID nineteen, not to mention
Speaker 1: what do you do about it? Both flu and COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen are spread from close contact with another person through coughing, sneezing,
Speaker 1: or talking. But the distinction is important because although both
Speaker 1: are highly contagious respiratory diseases that are potentially dangerous, they're
Speaker 1: handled differently. A positive COVID nineteen test requires a person
Speaker 1: to isolate at home for ten days after the test
Speaker 1: was initially taken or the onset of symptoms. According to
Speaker 1: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with severe
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen cases or who are immunocompromised may have to
Speaker 1: isolate even longer, up to twenty days, depending on their
Speaker 1: doctor's advice. This is a significant difference from influenza, where
Speaker 1: people can go back out into the public once they've
Speaker 1: been fever free without the use of fever reducing medication
Speaker 1: for just twenty four hours. This obviously affects when a
Speaker 1: person is cleared to return to normal daily activities, such
Speaker 1: as they are during this pandemic. The mortality rates for
Speaker 1: both diseases are very different too. For COVID nineteen it's
Speaker 1: three to four percent, while for seasonal influenza the rate
Speaker 1: is less than zero point one percent, according to the
Speaker 1: World Health Organization, which notes that of COVID nineteen cases
Speaker 1: are mild or asymptomatic. So what's the same and what's
Speaker 1: different about COVID nineteen and flu symptoms. Well, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of overlap. Both the flu and COVID nineteen typically
Speaker 1: result in symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath, though
Speaker 1: it's more severe in COVID nineteen patients, fatigue, sort out,
Speaker 1: muscle aches, and headache. But here are a few COVID
Speaker 1: specific symptoms loss of smell or taste, diarrhea, and so
Speaker 1: called covid toe, which are purplish spots or rashes that
Speaker 1: show up on the toes, heels, or fingers. Another differentiating
Speaker 1: factor between flu and COVID nineteen is how quickly and
Speaker 1: severely the diseases hit a patient. Typically, flu symptoms develop
Speaker 1: one to four days after infection, for COVID nineteen, it's
Speaker 1: two to five days after infection, though symptoms can appear
Speaker 1: as late as two weeks later, and people with the
Speaker 1: flu tend to feel very sick very quickly after symptoms
Speaker 1: first appear, whereas people of COVID nineteen may have mild
Speaker 1: symptoms for a week or so before they suddenly get
Speaker 1: much worse. People with the full on flu also tend
Speaker 1: to get better faster than those patients with serious COVID nineteen,
Speaker 1: although people with mild versions of both illnesses tend to
Speaker 1: recover at around the same rate. Here's what you should
Speaker 1: do when potential COVID IT ten or flu symptoms pop up. First,
Speaker 1: if you have a usual doctor, call them. They'll screen
Speaker 1: you over the phone for symptoms and might even have
Speaker 1: a video conference to determine next steps. If they suspect
Speaker 1: it's COVID, they'll either be able to provide a test
Speaker 1: at their office or point you somewhere that's testing, and
Speaker 1: since they know a bit about your medical history, they'll
Speaker 1: be able to tailor their advice to you, taking into
Speaker 1: consideration whether you might be at greater risk from complications
Speaker 1: of getting sick. If you don't have a regular doctor,
Speaker 1: visit c DC dot gov slash coronavirus to find a
Speaker 1: symptom checker and access advice like hotlines in your area. Next,
Speaker 1: if you have symptoms and are so advised by a doctor,
Speaker 1: get a COVID nineteen test. The only sticky thing here
Speaker 1: is that the results could take a while to come back,
Speaker 1: and while you wait for those results, you'll have to
Speaker 1: isolate at home. You are, a doctor or consulting healthcare
Speaker 1: provider may also advise you to go ahead and get
Speaker 1: a flu test. In the past, many people didn't bother
Speaker 1: with this because they could cover at home with little
Speaker 1: to no intervention. However, a very low percentage of people
Speaker 1: can have both flu and COVID nineteen, leaving them extra
Speaker 1: vulnerable to complications and also to making others sick. Finally,
Speaker 1: and throughout this process, stay home. Treatment for mild cases
Speaker 1: is similar for both illnesses. Rest up, drink lots of fluids,
Speaker 1: and watch your symptoms. If they become more severe, call
Speaker 1: a healthcare provider. Immediately. They'll be able to recommend prescription
Speaker 1: medication or other treatment if necessary. Anti viral drugs like
Speaker 1: tamiflu can help with influenza, and severe cases of COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen may require hospitalization and a variety of other treatments,
Speaker 1: but before you get sick, you can get a flu
Speaker 1: shot to help prevent confusion. The flu vaccine gets a
Speaker 1: lot of flak for not being one effective, but it's
Speaker 1: still the best line of defense against this illness, and
Speaker 1: it significantly reduces the severity of the virus if you
Speaker 1: still managed to come down with it. During a pandemic
Speaker 1: where mixed messages seem to abound, the health professionals are
Speaker 1: totally in sync that everyone who's able should get a
Speaker 1: flu vaccine. That's because a simultaneous wave of both influenza
Speaker 1: and COVID nineteen could be catastrophic to the health care
Speaker 1: system and to people's health and even lives. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Leo Hoyt and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on listen lots of other topics, visit how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com and brain Stuff is production of
Speaker 1: I Heeart Radio. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.