Emergency room doctor says COVID-19 and 1918 flu pandemic belong in the same conversation
New medical study finds New York City coronavirus deaths in spring are comparable to 1918 flu pandemic; insight from Dr. Jeremy Faust, emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
As health officials urge the public to get the flu shot in order to avoid potentially overloading the country’s hospitals with both influenza and coronavirus-related illnesses, a new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that last year’s vaccine, which was estimated to be between 40% and 60% effective, actually reduced pediatric flu-related emergency room visits by as much as 51%, and hospitalizations by 40%.
The findings, which were shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come despite the fact that last year’s flu vaccines “were not well matched with one of the circulating viruses,” according to the CDC.
HOW CORONAVIRUS DIFFERS FROM FLU: SYMPTOMS TO WATCH FOR
“Influenza tends to cause much more body pain and the COVID-19 virus tends to feel much more like the common cold with fever, cough, runny nose and diarrhea,” Dr. Caesar Djavaherian, co-founder of Carbon Health, previously told Fox News. “However, in a small portion of the population with either COVID-19 or influenza, symptoms progress to kidney failure and respiratory failure.”
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