What is the difference between Flu and Covid 19

Is Flu similar to Covid 19 if not What are the differences?

Let's go over some of the similarities and differences between the coronavirus and the influenza virus also known as the flu.

Similarities between Flu and Covid 19

So first let's talk about some similarities between the Coronavirus and Flu.

Firstly Covid 19 and influenza have similar disease presentation as they both cause respiratory disease. They present a wide range of illnesses from asymptomatic or mild to severe disease and death.

Common Symptoms

Common symptoms of Covid 19 and Flu are:- 

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of Breathing Difficulties
• Runny or Stuffed Nose
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea 

Transmission

Regarding transmission both viruses are transmitted from person to person via 

• Direct contact
• Respiratory droplets as well as 
• Fomites 

Fomites are basically objects or materials which are likely to carry infections such as clothes utensils and furniture.

So how does coven 19 and influenza compare when it comes to prevention?

Since the flu and Covid19 have similar methods of transmission the same measures such as proper hand hygiene and wearing masks must be taken into consideration.

Masks and Hand Washing Impact on FLU

First let's take a look at a study on the impact of masks and hand washing on influenza transmission.

Researchers conducted a randomized intervention trial involving 1437 young adults living in university residency halls during the 2006 to 2007 influenza season, In which they observed significant reductions in the incidence of influenza during weeks four to six in the mask and hand hygiene group.

The centers for disease control and prevention and subsequently the world health organization issued recommendations on wearing cloth face coverings in public to reduce community spread.

This small piece of cloth has incited outrage and debate amongst the general public however it is important to reflect on the evidence.

A study conducted in the u.s provides evidence from a natural experiment on the effects of state government mandates for face mask use in public areas which were issued by 15 states.

The researchers examined changes in the daily county level of coven 19 growth rates between march 31st and may 22nd 2020.

Mandating face mask use in public is associated with the decline in daily coven 19 growth rate by 0.9 1.1, 1.4, 1.7 and 2.0 percentage points over time.

After state face mask orders were signed estimates suggest that as a result of the implementation of these mandates more than 200 000 cova 19 cases were averted by may 22nd 2020.

Differences between Covid 19 and Flu

Even though the two viruses are very similar there are still many differences. Now we will discuss and look into some of these differences between coronavirus and influenza.

Covid Family Vs Flu Family

Covid Family

One of the most general differences between Covid 19 and the Flu are the family of viruses they belong

to Covid belongs to a family of viruses called Coronaviridae or Coronaviruses a nickname you probably heard given to covid.

They are actually named for their crown-like appearance with corona meaning crown in latin because of the large spikes that come out of their surface 

Covet is not the only coronavirus there are many other viruses in this family for example severe acute respiratory syndrome or sars and middle east respiratory syndrome or mers.

The family of corona viruses is big however most of them are known to infect animals and only seven are known to infect humans.

Flu Family

In contrast the flu viruses belong to the family or they'll make severe day. This family consists of flu viruses divided into three types A B and C. 

Influenza A is the only one known to cause global epidemics of the flu and types A and B cause local epidemics known as the flu season which occurs every year.

Spreading of Covid 19 Vs Flu

Covid 19 Spread

Now we will look at how contagious and easily each virus spreads. 

To quantify how contagious a virus is scientists calculate something called a basic reproduction number or are not. R0 is the number of healthy people that one infected person can transmit the virus to.

When calculating this number it is assumed that the entire population is susceptible to the virus and no control measures are taken.

Scientists usually use this number to determine if an epidemic is likely to occur.

WhenR0 is above one the virus will usually lead to an epidemic because each infected person will cause more than one new infection leading to exponential growth.

If R0 is below one each infected person will cause less than one new infection so the virus will eventually die out and result in no epidemic.

The estimated R0 for covid is between 2 or 3 so if we assume it is 3 that means if someone with covid walks into a room full of susceptible people that one person will infect three more who in fact 9 who infects 27 who infect 81 who infect 243 and the pattern continues.

This is a huge exponential growth and will lead to an epidemic really quickly in contrast the R0 for the flu is estimated to be between 0.9 to 2.1 which is lower than that of Covid.

Also Visit: Difference between Pfizer and Moderna Vaccine

Spread of Flu

Let's assume it is one that means someone with the flu will only go on to infect one other person who will infect another and so on.

If the R0 remains at one the disease will persist in the population and be stable but there will be no outbreak or epidemic.

Through these differences in iron arts between the two different viruses this depicts that covet is much more contagious than the flu.

Mortality Rate between Covid 19 vs Flu

Calculating the mortality rates of different conditions is a very complicated task. There are several factors that influence the survival rates of both Covid 19 and influenza depending on where you live. 

Factors such as access to a high quality healthcare the age distribution of the population and the population density can all influence these numbers.

For the sake of consistency let's look at the number of cases and deaths from these two conditions in the United States.

Mortality rate of Flu

According to the cdc from the october of 2019 all the way to the april of 2020 there were up to 56 million cases of flu in the United States and up to 62 000 deaths reported due to the flu in this time period.

These numbers mean that the flu had a 0.1 percent mortality rate in this flu season.

Mortality rate of Covid 19

However according to the analysis done by the john hopkins university based on the data acquired from the cdc the mortality rate of Covid 19 in the United States is around 2.4 percent as of november of 2020.

However it has to be noted that the mortality rate of these two conditions are heavily dependent on the age and underlying conditions of the person.

Young people are not immune to either of these two conditions but they have a better chance of survival.

It should be considered that young people can easily transmit Covid 19 to the other members of the community and increase the number of cases.

The true mortality rate of cobit 19 cannot be determined until the end of this pandemic.

Conclusion

What do these numbers really mean 

Imagine we have a city with a population of 1 million people in the united states.

If all the citizens of this city get the seasonal flu you can expect roughly one thousand deaths. 

Now if all the cities and contracts copied 19 instead you can expect 24 000 deaths. 

As we can see from these numbers we can't really say that Covid 19 is just like the flu.

We should all practice social distancing and listen to the advice of the health experts to minimize the damage of this disease on our communities.