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Rashmi Goyal, MD
THE CONCERN THAT INFLUENZA PATIENTS might overwhelm hospitals already strained from COVID-19 admissions last fall and winter proved unfounded.
Across the United States, flu season was barely a blip on the radar. The Ohio Department of Health, for example, reported just 122 people were hospitalized with influenza during the 2020-2021 flu season. The season before, more than 11,000 Ohioans were hospitalized with the flu. Now—with COVID-19 infections surging again fueled by the highly infectious delta variant—the question is, can a nearly nonexistent flu season be repeated?
“The take home lesson from last year’s flu season is that masks, hand-washing, and social distancing work. It was unprecedented how mild last flu season was,” said Dr. Rashmi Goyal, an internal medicine specialist with The University of Toledo Medical Center’s South Toledo Internists. “These public health measures, combined with a strong push for the seasonal flu vaccine, made a big difference.”
Goyal said there’s little question that the measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 played a big role in preventing flu infections. She hopes individuals don’t get complacent about the risk of influenza. With much of our collective focus placed on COVID-19 over the past 18 months, it can be easy to forget that influenza, too, can be a deadly virus.
“I think the majority of people in our country grasp the seriousness of COVID, but when you talk to many of them about flu shots or influenza in general, it’s not seen as a serious threat,” Goyal said. “I’ve seen in my own clinic people who decline the flu shot year after year but did get vaccinated against COVID-19.”
COVID-19 is more infectious than influenza. That’s particularly true of the delta variant, which is much more infectious than the original version of the virus. However, in typical seasons the flu still causes between 140,000 and 810,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 and 61,000 deaths.
“Even if you take COVID out of the equation completely, influenza can be a serious condition with serious consequences,” Goyal said. “What really concerns us, though, is that we don’t have the data to know what’s going to happen if someone has one infection followed by the other or both concurrently.”
That’s why Goyal and other healthcare providers say vaccination against both viruses is so important. The CDC recommends annual flu vaccines for everyone 6 months of age or older. COVID-19 vaccinations are available for all Americans over age 12. With more data on the COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC also recently updated its guidance to say that vaccinations against COVID-19 and influenza can be given at the same time.
The COVID-19 vaccine is available at the UTMC Comprehensive Care Center by appointment. Individuals also can get vaccinated without an appointment at the outpatient pharmacy in the UTMC Medical Pavilion from 8:00 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. Influenza vaccines should be available in late September or early October.
Neither vaccine can guarantee 100% protection against infection from the respective viruses, but both are clearly shown to significantly reduce the chance of serious illness or hospitalization.
Because COVID-19 and influenza cause many of the same symptoms— most commonly fatigue, cough, body aches, and fever—it’s nearly impossible to distinguish one from the other outside of lab testing.
If you do come down with a respiratory illness this fall or winter, Goyal suggests calling your primary care physician. They can review your symptoms, suggest an appropriate level of care, and, if necessary, arrange for testing.
“The biggest thing beyond taking care of yourself is to make sure you’re not exposing others. If you’re not feeling well, it’s important not to go to work, not to send your kids to school. Flu and COVID-19 are both public health threats,” Goyal said. “You don’t want to spread either virus or risk exposing others who cannot fight the condition.”
Tyrel Linkhorn is a communications specialist in the Communications Department at The University of Toledo.
