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Influenza and Covid-19: is it a Similar Battle?

At first glance, there are indeed some obvious similarities. They both spread by contact and they both target the respiratory system. And of course both diseases can kill. However Covid-19 is far deadlier than the Flu. It is estimated that about 3.5% of reported Covid-19 cases have died. By comparison seasonal flu kills about 0.5% of those who are infected. Moreover, coronavirus patients often remain contagious for much longer than those affected by flu (Re.The Lancet). In a nutshell, Covid-19 is much worse than Influenza. Covid-19 deaths are actually anywhere between 10 times to 44 times the number of Influenza fatalities (Re.Dr J.S.Faust). This serious issue of coronavirus was released in March of this year when Covid-19 was everywhere in the media across the world excluding other matters from consideration. Health authorities, quite rightly, feared that their health care system could be overwhelmed by the influx of new patients. That said, it must also be underlined that the virus that causes Covid-19 is new and that its treatment is "essentially a trial run" (Re.Dr M.Chang). On average one person with the coronavirus transmits it to 2 to 2.5 other people, compared with 0.9 to 2.1 other people for the flu (Re.healthline.com). But above all we have vaccines to fight Influenza -with an effectiveness up to 60%- but no vaccine to fight against the Covid-19. The situation could change soon. Many governments and scientists announced that a new vaccine might be ready within the next 12 to 18 months.

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