Here’s how the coronavirus might ‘kill’ the flu this winter

[Chris Smith]

• Health officials are worried about the imminent coronavirus-flu "twindemic" that will impact several countries in the coming months, advising people to continue to respect safety measures and get their flu vaccines.
• But reports from the southern hemisphere reveal an unexpected side effect of the novel coronavirus.
• Some of the local flu epidemics have been much milder than in the past, and COVID-19 is part of the reason why.

Health officials have been warning the public for months about the looming danger this fall and winter. If the novel coronavirus isn't contained, some communities risk having to deal with the novel coronavirus and the flu virus at the same timer. It's the coronavirus-flu convergence that some refer to as "twindemic." CDC director Robert Redfield and Dr. Anthony Fauci explained the nightmare scenario where some medical system would have to deal with a high number of COVID-19 cases during the colder seasons as well as a growing number of flu cases. The two illnesses have almost the same set of symptoms, so a differential diagnosis based on symptoms alone is often impossible. Not to mention that some people may be exposed to both viruses at the same time and have to deal with a twin infection. That's why it's essential to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by observing safety measures before the flu season starts. As for the flu, a vaccine might be more important than ever this season.

As the northern hemisphere is bracing for the coronavirus-flu twindemic, the southern hemisphere may have good news about the flu. It appears that the coronavirus can actually help "kill" the flu, but there's no guarantee the same phenomenon will happen in the US or other northern countries in the coming months.

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Here’s how the coronavirus might ‘kill’ the flu this winter originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 9 Sep 2020 at 13:47:45 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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