SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Flu season is looming and new COVID-19 variants are continuing to arise.
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While there is some overlap in symptoms between the two, there are some things that can help people better understand the differences.
"There is no way that a person or even a doctor can tell without a test whether some of these symptoms are caused by COVID-19 or caused by influenza," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security on KCBS Radio's "Ask an Expert" with Margie Shafer on Monday.
"So this is where testing becomes critical and we have home COVID-19 tests but unfortunately we don’t have flu tests," he said.
Differentiating between the two is really important because the treatments are really different as well.
And it's not just the flu that people need to watch out for.
"There's going to be many different viruses circulating – we're not going to have that respite that we had during COVID-19 where a lot of the other respiratory viruses had sort of major constraints to their spread," said Adalja.
Those who are high risk need to be especially careful during this time as any one of these viruses can turn severe.
Symptoms in particular to look out for are fatigue, shortness of breath, or a consistent fever.
The flu season typically begins to wane by February, so people who want to be best protected throughout this time shouldn't get their shot too early.
The ideal time to get a flu shot is the end of October, the beginning of November, said Adalja. "Right around the time cases start to pick up."
Things were more complicated this year due to a federal campaign encouraging people to go out and get the updated COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as the flu shot.
"That's more done out of convenience and messaging than out of science," he said.
The best time to get a flu shot is whenever people can get one, but if it can be scheduled, people should wait just a little bit longer to get the maximum benefits.
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