Experts: ‘Twindemic’ could have ‘crippling effect’ on CT hospitals
A flu shot can’t protect people against COVID-19 — but it could help shield them from the flu. And that could be nearly as important, as experts said the combination of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the coming influenza season could have a catastrophic effect on hospitals.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its frequently asked questions list for the 2020-21 flu season, and it includes the differences and similarities between COVID and flu, and how getting an influenza shot will be especially crucial this year.
“Getting a flu vaccine this fall will be more important than ever, not only to reduce your risk from flu, but also to help conserve potentially scarce health care resources,” the document reads.
Connecticut health care experts agreed that getting the flu shot could help keep people out of hospitals and reduce the risk of co-infection of both flu and COVID.
The co-infection, which many are referring to as the “twindemic” although the seasonal flu is not likely to be a pandemic, is a particularly scary prospect, said Dr. Zane Saul, chief of infectious disease at Bridgeport Hospital.
“We can’t imagine what would happen if you had both illnesses,” Saul said. “Influenza itself is bad enough.”
The CDC estimated there were between 24,000 and 62,000 flu deaths nationwide during the 2019-20 season. Though that’s a fraction of the nearly 170,000 people nationwide who are believed to have died with COVID-19, it’s still significant, experts said.
The double impact of flu season and another COVID spike could be devastating, said Michael Urban, director of occupational therapy at the University of New Haven.
“Our nation’s health care systems logistical supply chains were already significantly impacted by the current pandemic, and so adding thousands of flu cases to this mix, with what I expect to be a natural spike in COVID cases over the next few months, can lead to a crippling effect on our nation’s health care system capacity,” he said.
Urban said among his chief concerns is the overlapping symptoms — including fever, cough and shortness of breath — of the flu and COVID-19. He fears this could result in people assuming they have the flu when they have the coronavirus.
Though the flu shot is never 100 percent effective at preventing influenza, Saul said it usually offers some protection and can at least lessen the severity of flu, which could mean fewer people in the hospital.
“Prevention as always is the key to success here,” Saul said. “Even people who don’t typically get a flu vaccine should be urged to get one this year. It mostly will help to keep people from getting sicker.”
One concern he has is that many people get their flu shots in large group settings, such as offices or health fairs. “Now people are staying away from group settings,” Saul said. That will make other providers of flu shots — including doctors’ offices, urgent care clinics and pharmacies — more crucial than ever, he said.
To encourage more people to get vaccinated, the CDC plans to purchase an additional 2 million doses of pediatric flu vaccine and 9.3 million doses of adult flu vaccine, as well as a variety of marketing and educational efforts to highlight awareness about the importance of getting vaccinated.
Urban said, in addition to the flu shot, he expects a heavy push for seniors to get a pneumonia vaccine, and for people to continue practicing preventive measures such as hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing.
One benefit of the COVID outbreak is that many of the measures used to control its spread, including masks, could help curb the spread of flu, said Dr. Jo-Anne Passalacqua, an infectious disease specialist at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport.
“I’m pleased to see that so much attention has been given to these infection prevent methods,” she said. “Doing any of these things can help prevent influenza as well as COVID.”
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