As the omicron variant continues to sweep the Garden State, surveillance data from the Department of Health shows flu activity is on the rise as well, and that has health officials concerned.
It turns out that you can get the flu and the coronavirus at the same time, a disease called fluron.
It’s hard to know
State epidemiologist Dr. Tina Tan said there isn’t much solid data on this because it would require doctors to test for both flu and COVID, and for people to look for tests.
“A lot of times when people get tested for COVID, they don’t get tested for the flu at the same time, so it’s very difficult to make a determination,” he said.
Tan noted that getting COVID or the flu can be serious, but that getting flurone could lead to even more problems.
A double whammy
“Co-infection with two different viruses could lead to more serious results, which is why we are really trying to encourage everyone to get vaccinated not only against COVID-19, but also to get vaccinated against the flu,” he said.
Those with compromised immune systems may be particularly susceptible to fluron, especially since influenza activity has increased significantly in recent weeks.
Flu spike
“Right now, across the state, we are seeing high levels of influenza activity,” he said.
Visits to the emergency room and outpatient providers dealing with flu-like illnesses have increased.
Tan said the predominant influenza virus, AH3N2, “is associated with more serious illness, especially among the elderly and the very young, which means that this particular type of flu is sometimes associated with increased hospitalizations.” .
He noted that this is the first flu season in at least the past five years with high levels of flu in all areas of the state in early January.
How do you know what you have?
So how do you know if you are sick with the flu, COVID, some other virus, or just a bad cold? The test is the only way to know. Many symptoms of all these diseases are similar.
“It’s very difficult to make a determination based solely on symptoms, so we strongly encourage people to get tested,” Tan said.
You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com.
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