Flu or COVID? Doctors explain symptoms, difference between the two - TCPalm

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STUART — Fever, cough, sinus infections — Kaitlyn Brugnoni's two toddlers had the works, just like the rest of their classmates. But it wasn't COVID-19.

No, it's not flu season, but Florida kids have been hit hard by a sudden rise in flu cases, which peaked in May. It's unusual for the flu to be circulating in May and June, health officials say, as outbreaks typically happen in the fall and winter months. 

Between May 21 and June 18, Martin County had the most reported outbreaks of influenza or influenza-like diseases in Florida, between three and four, according to the Department of Health's weekly influenza update. None was reported in Indian River or St. Lucie counties. 

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Flu cases, however, have decreased since the end of the school year, said Renay Rouse, spokesperson with the Department of Health in Martin County.

And those outbreaks in Martin County weren't especially large, Rouse said — each was only a handful of cases — but they were mostly concentrated in the younger population.

Why the sudden rise in flu cases?

There's no clear-cut explanation, said Dr. Genon Wicina, pediatrician with Cleveland Clinic Martin Health. But there likely are a few contributing factors.

"I suspect it was because there was less masking going on," Wicina said. "So there was more opportunity for the flu that circulates every year to keep circulating."

Fall and winter months are considered flu season, when people spend more time indoors, she said. So increased indoor activities — graduations, end-of-year celebrations — also could have contributed to the outbreak at the end of the school year.

"It seemed to have peaked right around the end of school, before school let out and then maybe a couple weeks after," she said. 

It's unusual timing for an outbreak, and Brugnoni, a Stuart mother of two, found out the extent of it when she called her 2- and 5-year-old boys in sick at the end of the school year.  

"I found out that his class alone, which has about 15-16 kids, only five kids were in school," Brugnoni said. "And even the teachers were out."

In four years of having a child in preschool, she said, she never had heard of so many children being out at once, she said.

And this summer's strain was nasty, according to Brugnoni. Her kids were sick for about seven days, developed sinus and ear infections and had coughs that lasted weeks.

The flu vaccine's effectiveness could have played a part in the unusual outbreak, Wicina said, because it's only effective for about seven months. The shot is typically administered in the fall, meaning the efficacy period ended right around this summer's rise in cases.

Plus, during the pandemic, fewer people were getting flu shots to begin with, Wicina said.

Flu vs. COVID-19: When to get tested

Because COVID-19 and flu cases bring on very similar symptoms, it can be difficult distinguishing between the two. 

One tell-tale sign is the speed at which the illness spreads, Wicina said. COVID-19 and its symptoms can incubate for up to two weeks, while flu symptoms can show up within days.

But, ultimately, the most effective way to know is to get tested, she said, which is important in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19 to more vulnerable people. 

"If their child has respiratory symptoms and a high fever, then there's really no way for them to know what it is without being tested," she said.

Vaccines and preventative measures

The Food and Drug Administration on June 17 approved COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months.  Along with typical health measures such as hand washing, which protects against both flu and COVID-19, Wicina urged vaccinations for young children.

"My recommendation is that everybody gets the vaccine, and it is now available for 6 months and older," Wicina said. "It does help prevent hospitalizations for these children." 

Doctors will be able to order and administer COVID-19 vaccines for children younger than 5 but the state of Florida did not pre-order vaccines to distribute, despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommending vaccines for children in that age group.

Children can develop multi-inflammatory symptoms as a result of COVID-19 infections, Wicina said, and the long-term effects of the disease are still unclear.

"We still had, between March 2020 and April 2022, 269 kids [in the U.S.] die from COVID-19 under 1 year of age," Wicina said. "So it's not insignificant." 

Thomas Weber is a Digital Now Reporter at TCPalm. You can reach him at thomas.weber@tcpalm.com or 813-545-9113. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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