Imagine battling COVID and the flu at the same time; Warning from doctors

Описание: Local doctors are seeing a trend of people battling two viruses at once: COVID-19 and the flu.
Full story: https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/warn...

Doctors say it doesn’t hurt to keep COVID rapid tests on hand. Even though we’ve seen a downtick in cases, it’s still present – and about 300 people across the country die from COVID each day.

Along with unusually high flu detected at hospitals, medical experts confirm it is possible to test for both COVID and flu at the same time.

"Saturday afternoon I tested positive for both," said Tony Gupton, a WRAL employee.

He says symptoms like achy joints started Friday evening after work.

"I had a really bad headache that was way out of the ordinary," he said.

A test confirmed both respiratory illnesses.

Infectious disease experts point to fewer people wearing masks and more people interacting indoors for an uptick in influenza.
Flu cases much higher than normal
Here are the flu cases as reported by UNC Health Rex’s Hospitals and clinics in Wake County in November of the past three years:
November 2022: More than 850 reported flu cases
November 2021: 175 cases across the same health care system
November 2020, just months into the COVID pandemic: Less than 10 influenza cases
"When we’re in season like now when we have an explosion of flu, a substantial amount of RSV and ongoing covid, people can certainly get more than one virus at the same time and we do see that," said Dr. David Weber with UNC Hospitals.
Health experts are still gathering data on how common co-infections are.
"The consequences if you have both, if you’re particularly vulnerable – even if you’re not – are going to be more likely to be more severe," said Weber.

Doctors say vaccinations against both COVID and flu are your best safeguard.

"If i hadn’t had the vaccines as well as go to my doctor and get antivirals, it could be a whole lot worse," said Gupton.

Gupton says this is his first time contracting COVID-19. He credits his long success not having previously contracted it to wearing masks during much of the pandemic.
His doctor has him taking Tamiflu AND Paxlovid to help with recovery process.

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