We should treat COVID like norovirus – not the flu

[2greys]

Because COVID symptoms – fever, cough, aches – are similar to flu symptoms, it is tempting to compare the two. Indeed, the UK’s new health secretary, Sajid Javid, recently said: “We are going to have to learn to accept the existence of Covid and find ways to cope with it – just as we already do with flu.”

But have we picked the wrong disease to compare COVID-19 with? Outside of a pandemic, we accept that seasonal flu is an infection anyone might catch. We vaccinate only those who are particularly prone to complications and treat people with severe side-effects, such as pneumonia. Otherwise, people are left to go about their business. Global deaths from flu-related illness typically amount to around 400,000 each year.

While we do need to find some way of living with COVID-19, the numbers suggest we’re still a long way from being able to treat it in the same way. There have been over 180 million cases around the world since early 2020, and at least 4 million people have died from the disease. On top of this, we’re not sure of the real effect of long COVID yet, but lasting symptoms are common, with one in ten people still experiencing illness 12 weeks after their infection. Currently, the health effect of COVID-19 across the population is much greater than flu.

We also know that COVID-19 is more infectious. We can be sure of this because, over the last 18 months, measures to control COVID-19 have reduced flu cases to almost none, but they obviously haven’t been as effective at stopping the coronavirus from spreading. Cases were close to zero in the southern hemisphere during its winter in the middle of 2020 and again in Europe and North America between November 2020 and March 2021. Even in countries with high rates of COVID-19, such as South Africa and the UK, winter saw hardly any recorded cases of flu.

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[CDPO16]

Absolutely 2greys. I get incensed when people who should know better after the last 18 months liken the covid virus to flu.

[2greys in reply to CDPO16]

That has been president, Trump and his calling it Kung flu and China flu on the world stage did not help one bit.

[Badbessie]

If you look for comparisons between Covid-19 and flu you can find them. Yes, both can be asymptomatic, both can cause death, there can be variants to both and there can be a wide range of degree to symptoms. But outcomes are totally different matters. In many ways it is like calling pneumonia a bit of a cold. Sadly I fear the worst this autumn and winter and not just from covid. As you correctly state flu just about disappeared last winter but with the dropping of precautions there is huge questions about this winter. Which variant or variants do you vaccinate against? We normally follow what happens in Australia but with the restrictions there we have no idea what flu strain will become dominant.