Flu and Covid-19: What You Should Know Before Sending Your Kids Back to School

Data regarding coronavirus is publicly available for people to analyze the situation in their region. While many states in the US are still coping with rising cases, some regions have seen a significant decline in coronavirus cases in the past few months. However, it is vital to note that the vaccine is still in the making with several countries running tests to ensure complete safety. Until the vaccine comes out we have to wear masks and take every precaution necessary.

To put things into perspective, here’s a new report published by the JAMA Network that went on to say that more people with the COVID-19 virus reported fever, headache, body ache, chest pain, than patients who had common flu. Also, with the flu season and winters already at our doorstep, it is necessary to differentiate flu from the coronavirus. For the same, either talk to a doctor online or read on to decipher whether your child has the coronavirus or the flu.

How to Differentiate Between Flu and the COVID-19 Virus?

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released guidance regarding the virus and the symptoms associated with the flu regularly. While the flu and the virus have many things in common. The coronavirus affects a certain age group more severely than the flu. The report also suggests that it takes a lot of time for the flu symptoms to show. Whereas the symptoms associated with the SARS-CoV-2 appear as soon as patients expose themselves to the infection.

In addition to this, as seen in the past few months the virus spreads more rapidly than the flu. The only exception, in this case, is children because the virus’s impact on kids still requires proper research and analysis. Besides this report, some experts also view the impact of the virus on children as minimal. The reason for the same is that children were either sheltered during the pandemic or protected safely inside homes. But the situation is about to change as school and college reopen. This also means that the winter season will provide us with the opportunity to assess the impact of the virus on children. In particular, cases of both influenza and the coronavirus this winter.

Here’s What Research Says?

To understand the difference between the flu and the coronavirus in children here’s another study. The authors of the study looked at the data of the patients hospitalized due to the COVID-19 virus from March to May. The data of 315 patients compared with the data of 1,402 children diagnosed with flu revealed the following data.

Of the COVID-19 data collected and analyzed, 17.1% were hospitalized, 5.7% were admitted to the ICU, and 3.2% of the patients were on ventilators. Of the flu data, 21.2 percent of the children were hospitalized, 1.9% were on ventilators, and 7% of the children were admitted to the ICU. Further analysis revealed that patients affected by the virus had a median age of 9.7 and children with the flu had a median age of 4.2 years old.

In both, the coronavirus and flu patients, fever and cough were the common symptoms. But the coronavirus patients had severe symptoms compared to children suffering from the flu. A greater percentage of coronavirus patients reported symptoms such as headache, diarrhea, body aches, vomiting, and chest pain. Whereas the authors did not note any significant difference in children reporting shortness of breath, sore throat, and congestion.

Overlapping Symptoms

This is one of the major problems for parents because both the virus and the flu occur at the same time. According to mainstream doctors the symptoms of the flu and the coronavirus overlap. There are a few differences but it may be hard for the parents to recognize those symptoms.

Parents can talk to a doctor for the same or they should contact their pediatrician if the child has fever, cough, diarrhea, sore throat, or vomiting. All these symptoms will help determine whether your child requires a COVID-19 test or not. At the same time, you can also get your child tested for influenza to rule out any other possibility.

The only problem here is that all these symptoms will overlap. So, do not overthink or over-analyze the situation. Get your child tested for both the flu and the coronavirus, and act wisely.