Coronavirus, flu and cold infections surge

last Wednesday, World Health Organization (WHO) Admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) with Covid-19 increased last month, particularly in European and American countries, the warning said.

At the same time, he lamented that vaccination levels remained alarmingly low, stressing that only two-thirds of the world’s population had completed the first round of vaccination, while only one-third had received additional booster doses.

“Covid-19 may no longer be a serious crisis, but that doesn’t mean we can ignore it. Countries have invested heavily in building systems to deal with Covid-19,” he added.

about CataloniaCOVID-19 cases have been on the rise since the end of August. “There is a coronavirus, but people think it’s the flu because the symptoms are so similar,” they explained to us. Catalan publishing house

While this is not related to the health tensions that arose due to COVID-19 in previous years, the reality is that since last month the virus has been increasingly resonating in emergency settings and primary care centers (CAPs) .

The problem is that there has been a shortage of health care workers for too long. When people start to detect symptoms consistent with the virus, they go to CAP, but wait times at CAP are often too long due to reduced health staff.

This results in many affected people going to emergency rooms, where the problem is even more severe because the illness is not limited to the flu or coronavirus but includes many other physical ailments. Without good health systems, any rebound will eventually suffer.

The difference between coronavirus and influenza

The symptoms of both diseases are very similar and may even be asymptomatic. This similarity is one of the reasons for confusion. But how do we tell them apart?

If we compare the symptoms, both can cause headache, cough, muscle pain, fatigue, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, fever, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, and difficulty breathing and shortness of breath. The only significant difference is the loss of taste or smell, a well-known feature of long COVID.

The only difference we can identify is first with Symptoms appear. Covid-19 symptoms usually appear 2 to 14 days after exposure, while influenza usually appears 1 to 4 days after infection. In addition, severe symptoms may be significantly different, as Covid-19 often presents with complications such as thrombosis, sequelae, and multisystem inflammation.

Finally, it is important to stress that there is only one specific antiviral treatment for coronavirus, compared to the various flu treatments and vaccines developed and used over the years, which are required every year.