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How do you differentiate influenza from covid-19? These folks probably just have the flu. I live in WA state and I had the worst case of the flu I can remember

How do you differentiate influenza from covid-19? These folks probably just have the flu. I live in WA state and I had the worst case of the flu I can remember about 3 weeks ago. Did I have covid-19? No way to really know.

mbrubeck 7y ago
> These folks probably just have the flu. An update, ten days later: 26 people (nearly a quarter of the 120 residents of this facility) have died in the past three weeks. Most of those who died have already positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Post-mortem tests are still pending for a handful of the earlier cases. More than half of the surviving residents have also tested positive for coronavirus so far. Most of them are serious cases and are currently hospitalized. More than a third of the staff have COVID-19 symptoms and are awaiting test results.
- mbrubeck 7y ago
  35 residents are now known to have died of COVID-19.
ThePhysicist 7y ago
There’s an RNA based test procedure that can differentiate Covid-19 from the Flu, I think it’s what everyone is using.
- vanniv 7y ago
  The better thing is the new (not yet widely available) antibody test, which can determine if you had it even after you recover. Useless in a clinical setting, of course, but highly useful for epidemiology
jjulius 7y ago
>These folks probably just have the flu. Perhaps you're missing the part of the article that says: >There are also two confirmed cases associated with the nursing facility. I'm not trying to say they definitely have it, but it's foolish to brush this aside as "probably just the flu" when they appear to have been exposed to the virus.
- waynecochran 7y ago
  My response was largely from my own wondering about my situation. I live in WA state and I fly to CA every week. I was super sick -- fever, chills, respiratory issues, etc... I just came to the conclusion that it is far more likely I had the flu, but I really don't know.
  - ishwarn 7y ago
    You should consider telling your doctor. edit: I now see you said 3 weeks ago, so that may not be helpful.
Pfhreak 7y ago
From the article: "There are also two confirmed cases associated with the nursing facility." Also, there was recently a death from Coronavirus in Seattle, and there has been community transmission in the nearby neighborhood of Mill Creek. So, what evidence do you have that that "these folks probably have the flu"? At best you are dismissing concerns, at worst you are making things worse by trying to convince people not to take this seriously.
- waynecochran 7y ago
  Statistically it is still far more likely that they had the flu. I think it is dangerous to overstate the problem because then when it really does become an issue it will be dismissed because of all the previous folks "crying wolf."
  - jlmorton 7y ago
    At this point, it's much more likely that these residents and staff were exposed to Covid-19. We know of two confirmed cases at this facility, and no confirmed cases of influenza. Given our knowledge of the contagiousness of Covid-19, it would make little sense to assume this cluster of respiratory illnesses is not Covid-19.
    - abootstrapper 7y ago
      I mean, there’s always wishful thinking. That seems to be the US’s current response.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    You can test for influenza. In that article I didn't see, "tested positive for influenza". I did see "tested positive for coronavirus". So no, I don't think it's statistically more likely that ill patients around a highly contagious disease randomly picked up something else.
    - vanniv 7y ago
      The influenza test exists, bit it has a very high false negative rate. It is useful in epidemiology, because if you test large populations, you'll get enough positives to learn something -- but you learn virtually nothing from a negative influenza test.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
belltaco 7y ago
With a coronavirus test. The CDC screwed the pooch by shipping defective kits and restricting the criteria for getting tested.
- waynecochran 7y ago
  Yes, but these folks were not tested correct?
  - greglindahl 7y ago
    I know this is a fast moving topic, but the kerfluffle from last Wednesday about the person not tested for 4 days has caused testing to become much broader. For example, on Thursday, Santa Clara County ran a local test that confirmed the community-spread patient that's in a hospital in Mountain View. So a lot more testing is going on than was the case Wednesday and earlier.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    Again, from the article: Dr. Jeff Duchin with King County Public Health also said that an additional 27 residents and 25 staff members are reportedly ill with respiratory symptoms, hospitalized with pneumonia or are being tested for coronavirus. And two people have confirmed cases and are currently hospitalized.
  - belltaco 7y ago
    Yes, but the high number suggests that it may not be the flu, since immunity to flu lasts a few years, so people are unlikely to fall sick in high numbers like this, and also are in the same facility as people tested positive.
    - masonic 7y ago
      immunity to flu lasts a few years Immunity to that specific strain.
  - cryptoz 7y ago
    That is incorrect. At least some of the people were tested for coronavirus and the tests showed positive.
kabdib 7y ago
Bellevue, WA here; I had a very bad case of the flu in early Feb (worst I can remember) and it took 3+ weeks to fully recover. Many cow-orkers were also affected (some meetings with 30+ people were down to a handful of people . . . not a bad thing under the circumstances). Our "patient zero" was a dev who came into work for a day with a cough. If you're sick, please stay home.
- epiphanitus 7y ago
  That's crazy, my mom who lives in the Seattle area got sicker than she's ever gotten with that bug. I knew it was going around, but I had no idea it was THAT rampant.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    A real bad influenza swept through here. I was laid out for at least a week with a 102 fever.
- oceanghost 7y ago
  My whole family had that same bug in Feb (in So Cal). It was nasty. I have never worked at a company where one could call in sick without consequences. My last employer (which was evil) had a policy of five sick days per year, and more than two days consecutively needed a doctors note.
- sjg007 7y ago
  There’s no way you can confirm it was the dev. Almost Everyone has had the flu this year basically regardless of flu shot status. I had a flu shot and got influenza A. It took a week to recover but the fever only lasted half a day. Tamiflu helped. My case corrresponded with a peak in cases in my state.
  - lbeltrame 7y ago
    Most of my past flu "experiences" have been like that. Started of as a cold, two days of low fever, 8 hours of high fever (that waas the sucky part), and two to three days for everything to stabilize.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
sergiotapia 7y ago
I saw on the news, they are now using CAT scans to detect as a first pass. Apparently the damage done to the lungs has a distinct popcorn like outline, easily seen on the scans.
- lbeltrame 7y ago
  Wouldn't this catch only those with the most severe sympthoms (the dreaded 20% often quoted, of which a part of that is fatal) and not the "dangerous" (because they can infect others more easily) people with mild to no sympthoms?
rabboRubble 7y ago
most elderly are vaccinated against seasonal influenza, particularly those in a managed home like that.

mbrubeck 7y ago

> These folks probably just have the flu. An update, ten days later: 26 people (nearly a quarter of the 120 residents of this facility) have died in the past three weeks. Most of those who died have already positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Post-mortem tests are still pending for a handful of the earlier cases. More than half of the surviving residents have also tested positive for coronavirus so far. Most of them are serious cases and are currently hospitalized. More than a third of the staff have COVID-19 symptoms and are awaiting test results.

mbrubeck 7y ago
35 residents are now known to have died of COVID-19.

ThePhysicist 7y ago

There’s an RNA based test procedure that can differentiate Covid-19 from the Flu, I think it’s what everyone is using.

vanniv 7y ago
The better thing is the new (not yet widely available) antibody test, which can determine if you had it even after you recover. Useless in a clinical setting, of course, but highly useful for epidemiology

jjulius 7y ago

>These folks probably just have the flu. Perhaps you're missing the part of the article that says: >There are also two confirmed cases associated with the nursing facility. I'm not trying to say they definitely have it, but it's foolish to brush this aside as "probably just the flu" when they appear to have been exposed to the virus.

waynecochran 7y ago
My response was largely from my own wondering about my situation. I live in WA state and I fly to CA every week. I was super sick -- fever, chills, respiratory issues, etc... I just came to the conclusion that it is far more likely I had the flu, but I really don't know.
- ishwarn 7y ago
  You should consider telling your doctor. edit: I now see you said 3 weeks ago, so that may not be helpful.

Pfhreak 7y ago

From the article: "There are also two confirmed cases associated with the nursing facility." Also, there was recently a death from Coronavirus in Seattle, and there has been community transmission in the nearby neighborhood of Mill Creek. So, what evidence do you have that that "these folks probably have the flu"? At best you are dismissing concerns, at worst you are making things worse by trying to convince people not to take this seriously.

waynecochran 7y ago
Statistically it is still far more likely that they had the flu. I think it is dangerous to overstate the problem because then when it really does become an issue it will be dismissed because of all the previous folks "crying wolf."
- jlmorton 7y ago
  At this point, it's much more likely that these residents and staff were exposed to Covid-19. We know of two confirmed cases at this facility, and no confirmed cases of influenza. Given our knowledge of the contagiousness of Covid-19, it would make little sense to assume this cluster of respiratory illnesses is not Covid-19.
  - abootstrapper 7y ago
    I mean, there’s always wishful thinking. That seems to be the US’s current response.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  You can test for influenza. In that article I didn't see, "tested positive for influenza". I did see "tested positive for coronavirus". So no, I don't think it's statistically more likely that ill patients around a highly contagious disease randomly picked up something else.
  - vanniv 7y ago
    The influenza test exists, bit it has a very high false negative rate. It is useful in epidemiology, because if you test large populations, you'll get enough positives to learn something -- but you learn virtually nothing from a negative influenza test.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

belltaco 7y ago

With a coronavirus test. The CDC screwed the pooch by shipping defective kits and restricting the criteria for getting tested.

waynecochran 7y ago
Yes, but these folks were not tested correct?
- greglindahl 7y ago
  I know this is a fast moving topic, but the kerfluffle from last Wednesday about the person not tested for 4 days has caused testing to become much broader. For example, on Thursday, Santa Clara County ran a local test that confirmed the community-spread patient that's in a hospital in Mountain View. So a lot more testing is going on than was the case Wednesday and earlier.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  Again, from the article: Dr. Jeff Duchin with King County Public Health also said that an additional 27 residents and 25 staff members are reportedly ill with respiratory symptoms, hospitalized with pneumonia or are being tested for coronavirus. And two people have confirmed cases and are currently hospitalized.
- belltaco 7y ago
  Yes, but the high number suggests that it may not be the flu, since immunity to flu lasts a few years, so people are unlikely to fall sick in high numbers like this, and also are in the same facility as people tested positive.
  - masonic 7y ago
    immunity to flu lasts a few years Immunity to that specific strain.
- cryptoz 7y ago
  That is incorrect. At least some of the people were tested for coronavirus and the tests showed positive.

kabdib 7y ago

Bellevue, WA here; I had a very bad case of the flu in early Feb (worst I can remember) and it took 3+ weeks to fully recover. Many cow-orkers were also affected (some meetings with 30+ people were down to a handful of people . . . not a bad thing under the circumstances). Our "patient zero" was a dev who came into work for a day with a cough. If you're sick, please stay home.

epiphanitus 7y ago
That's crazy, my mom who lives in the Seattle area got sicker than she's ever gotten with that bug. I knew it was going around, but I had no idea it was THAT rampant.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  A real bad influenza swept through here. I was laid out for at least a week with a 102 fever.
oceanghost 7y ago
My whole family had that same bug in Feb (in So Cal). It was nasty. I have never worked at a company where one could call in sick without consequences. My last employer (which was evil) had a policy of five sick days per year, and more than two days consecutively needed a doctors note.
sjg007 7y ago
There’s no way you can confirm it was the dev. Almost Everyone has had the flu this year basically regardless of flu shot status. I had a flu shot and got influenza A. It took a week to recover but the fever only lasted half a day. Tamiflu helped. My case corrresponded with a peak in cases in my state.
- lbeltrame 7y ago
  Most of my past flu "experiences" have been like that. Started of as a cold, two days of low fever, 8 hours of high fever (that waas the sucky part), and two to three days for everything to stabilize.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

sergiotapia 7y ago

I saw on the news, they are now using CAT scans to detect as a first pass. Apparently the damage done to the lungs has a distinct popcorn like outline, easily seen on the scans.

lbeltrame 7y ago
Wouldn't this catch only those with the most severe sympthoms (the dreaded 20% often quoted, of which a part of that is fatal) and not the "dangerous" (because they can infect others more easily) people with mild to no sympthoms?

rabboRubble 7y ago

most elderly are vaccinated against seasonal influenza, particularly those in a managed home like that.