Coronavirus is more contagious and more lethal than influenza, and we lack the same global protection mechanism, says a news article published in The Guardian.
Did Corona treat as common flu?
As England prepares to ease coronavirus restrictions further, the messaging from ministers has changed. We have reached, it seems, a tipping point in the pandemic where rules will be replaced by personal decisions. The mantra now is about living with coronavirus, much as we do with seasonal flu.
Same symptoms
The pandemic has invited countless comparisons between coronavirus and influenza and the diseases do have some features in common. Both are contagious, potentially lethal respiratory viruses.
They can spread through aerosols, droplets, and contaminated surfaces. And they share some of the same symptoms in the form of fever, cough, headaches, and fatigue. In the winter ahead, one challenge the NHS faces is separating the Covid patients from the flu cases.
Difference between Corona & Flu
But there are striking differences between coronavirus and flu that matter for public health. Coronavirus spreads faster than influenza and can cause far more serious illnesses. The symptoms of coronavirus can take longer to show, and people tend to be contagious for longer, making them more prone to passing it on.
Seasonal influenza has been around long enough that previous infection and protection from vaccines bear down on cases and deaths. Analysis of previous influenza outbreaks suggests that the R-value for seasonal flu – the number of people an infected person passes the virus on to – averages about 1.28. This means a group of four people with flu might pass the virus on to five more.
Surging Delta Variant
Coronavirus spreads more easily than that. For the Delta variant now surging around the world, R is estimated at about seven, so in the absence of vaccines and other interventions, a single case would infect on average seven others. As vaccination programs push on and the virus continues to spread, immunity to coronavirus will drive R down, but how low is a moot point.
Coronavirus is more lethal than influenza, largely because of vulnerability to the disease rockets in older people. Seasonal influenza killed an estimated 44,505 people in England during the three combined flu seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-18. That number died from Covid in England in the first nine weeks of 2021. A major difference is that the flu figure takes into account the protection of influenza vaccines, where 50% effectiveness is considered good.
Coronavirus vaccines should have a greater proportional impact on Covid deaths. So far, the most common Covid vaccines used in the UK – the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech shots – reduce the risk of hospitalization from Covid by more than 90%. As a result, the vaccination program has driven Covid deaths down substantially, to fewer than 20 a day in the past week.
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Source: The Guardian
