Right in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, flu season is now trending. Both ailments most likely have similar symptoms, which means it can be challenging to differentiate one from another. Experts understand how early signs of COVID-19 and the seasonal flu can be distinguished in children. The majority of the people are complaining about fever, cough, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, body ache, or chest pain under the symptoms of flu.
The flu season is most likely to start in October, and parents are quite stressed if a sick child has seasonal flu or signs of COVID-19. But before digging deeper into this, we need to understand some fundamental differences between flu and Covid19.
Do you have Flu or Covid19?
Some experts have recently released guidelines on the differences between the flu and COVID-19. No doubt the COVID-19 and flu viruses are most likely to spread in similar ways. But as compared to flu, COVID-19 is more contagious among specific populations. Additionally, it has been found that COVID-19 has super spreading events as compared to flu.
The professionals had said that the impact of COVID-19 on children should not be reduced or based on data when children were found indoors or when they weren’t going to school.
As compared to flu, fever cough more common in kids with COVID-19 :
One of the most commonly reported symptoms among kids was fever, which was then followed by a cough. Almost all kids with COVID-19 had fever and cough compared to those with flu. Some of the other symptoms of covid19 among kids were:
- headache
- body aches
- chest pain
- headache
- body aches
- chest pain
Some of the common symptoms:
One of the things parents cannot overlook is that COVID-19 and flu can occur at the same time. It is mainly because symptoms of COVID-19 and influenza are quite similar. If your child has fever, cough, vomiting or diarrhea, or sore throat to determine if they should be tested for COVID-19 as a parent, you should contact your health professional.
Parents shouldn’t think COVID-19 is the only culprit as your kids can have a fever for many other reasons also. For both flu and COVID, doctors should test symptomatic patients. Both ailments can cause severe illness in children.
Warnings from the experts:
It is vital for parents to do what they can do to prevent these ailments. When it comes to flu, it means getting the flu shot. You need to wear masks, wash hands, and practice social distancing until a COVID-19 vaccine is available.
Parents should remember that children may still end up with the flu this winter even after getting a vaccination. No doubt the testing capacity has increased in many areas so that children are actually getting tested. So we can learn more about the illness burden in kids. Above all, you need to ensure that your child receives a flu shot as soon as possible.