5 Ways to Tell Flu from COVID: Your Survival Guide

Test to treat fall illness right

5 Ways to Tell Flu from COVID: Your Survival Guide As temperatures drop, people often start feeling under the weather, experiencing symptoms that can be tough to pin down to a specific illness. Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, cautions against self-diagnosis. “If you come in with symptoms like a cough, sore throat, or runny nose, I can’t tell you if that’s a cold, walking pneumonia, COVID, or the flu. You do need to test,” Gounder advised on “CBS Mornings.”

The good news is that testing options have expanded since the pandemic, making it easier to diagnose viral and bacterial respiratory infections. Gounder mentioned that single-swab tests are now available, covering multiple infections at once, which can guide specific treatments.

Treatment approaches vary for each illness. For example, influenza can be treated with Tamiflu or Xofluza, while COVID-19 has antiviral treatments like Paxlovid, and “walking pneumonia” may require antibiotics such as azithromycin. Notably, the COVID-19 XEC variant, which surfaced recently, does not seem to have unique symptoms, according to the CDC.

Typical COVID symptoms include cough, congestion, fever, shortness of breath, and loss of taste or smell. Americans can now order free COVID-19 tests from COVIDtests.gov, allowing up to four free tests per household. Meanwhile, flu symptoms often include fever, body aches, sore throat, and fatigue. Unlike COVID, flu symptoms tend to appear suddenly, while cold symptoms develop more gradually and rarely include fever.

This season, additional respiratory illnesses are also on the rise. “Walking pneumonia” cases among young children have increased, presenting with symptoms like sore throat, chest pain, and fever. Whooping cough cases have quadrupled among school-aged children, presenting a significant risk for infants with small airways.

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is also common this time of year and affects the upper respiratory system with runny nose, cough, and sore throat symptoms. If it spreads to the lungs, however, it can lead to more severe conditions like pneumonia, especially in young children. Although at-home tests for RSV aren’t available, pediatricians can test for it through nasal swabs.

Overall, due to overlapping symptoms, testing is key to accurately identifying and treating these respiratory infections.

5 Ways to Tell Flu from COVID: Your Survival Guide  Unsure if your symptoms suggest the flu, pneumonia, or something more serious? This concise guide outlines key indicators—from sudden body aches to respiratory difficulties—so you can identify the illness and seek appropriate care.

5 Ways to Tell Flu from COVID: Your Survival Guide As fall ushers in football, scenic autumn foliage, and pumpkin spice, it also marks the start of cold-weather illness season, when many people come down with the common cold—or worse, the flu or COVID-19.

Here’s a look at the differences between COVID-19 and the flu, and why Pennsylvanians should keep an eye on recent trends. According to the CDC, COVID-19 cases are on a downward trend in Pennsylvania, while flu cases are rising. However, both remain significant health concerns; the state recorded an uptick in COVID-19-related deaths in October.

COVID-19 and the flu share several common symptoms, including fever, cough, nasal congestion, fatigue, and body aches, as both are respiratory infections. However, COVID-19 is more likely to cause loss of taste or smell—less frequent with the flu. COVID-19 can also lead to more severe issues, such as respiratory distress and blood clotting, and its symptoms may develop gradually and last longer than the flu’s. The flu, on the other hand, usually has a shorter incubation period, with symptoms appearing within four days of exposure, while COVID-19 symptoms may take up to 14 days to show.

Waking up with a sore throat may be a stronger indicator of the flu than COVID-19. The Mayo Clinic explains that a sore throat—characterized by pain, scratchiness, or irritation that worsens with swallowing—is often due to a viral infection like a cold or the flu and usually resolves on its own.

From October 2023 to June 2024, the flu has caused approximately 600,000 hospitalizations and 50,000 deaths nationwide, underscoring the serious impact of seasonal illnesses.