Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Can anyone explain to me how this is different to flu now please?

173 replies

musicalfrog · 08/06/2021 12:11

Apart from the overseas thing, I get that other countries don't have as much protection as we do.

So -

Covid is a respiratory disease as is flu.

We now have our most vulnerable population fully vaccinated (as with flu).

Covid mutates. Just like flu. So we change the vaccine every year, same with covid.

So why are we still in this situation, wearing masks and distancing and all the other bollocks we're going for covid but don't do for flu?

OP posts:
Flyonawalk · 08/06/2021 13:00

OP, I agree that the situation is insane.

Vaccine take up has been high, and yesterday one person died with or from covid.

Every day there are about 1500 deaths in the U.K. from all causes. We have lost all perspective.

sheeesh · 08/06/2021 13:00

Wow! So many snippy comments on this thread.

Those posting sarcastic responses - are you all experts and if you are, why not post something useful like some posters have done? OP has asked a reasonable question albeit with some incorrect assumptions. No need for some of the responses on here.

Flyonawalk · 08/06/2021 13:02

@strangeshapedpotato Our immune systems do need constant challenge. This is one reason why a high number of flu deaths are expected during the coming 2021/22 winter.

Delatron · 08/06/2021 13:02

I guess it’s about the impact of Covid versus flu and many other illnesses though? That’s what I kind of took from the OP.

If the death rate remains low or even lower than for other illnesses why the need for continued restrictions? I think we know as a virus it’s not like flu but soon will the IMPACT of Covid be the same as flu?

For example, on average there are about 10,000 deaths from flu annually. Sometimes as high as 25,000. Sometimes lower. Will we get to a stage soon where Covid deaths are similar? What’s an acceptable level of deaths is the probably quite delicate question.

But agree the vascular elements of Covid are quite different. Often the flu vaccination isn’t very effective so that needs to be factored in..

Delatron · 08/06/2021 13:04

So much anger on this thread. Yes our immune systems benefit from being exposed to and fighting off mild illnesses. I guess they are weakened from fighting off major illness but then you get immunity. We shouldn’t live in a sterile bubble, never being exposed to viruses abs germs.

I am very worried for this winter as we’ve all been in our protective anti bac bubbles. I’ve not had a cold for about 18 months and I’m not sure that is a good thing!

Original poster
musicalfrog · 08/06/2021 13:08

@sleepwouldbenice I'm fed up, hence my use of the word bollocks.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 08/06/2021 13:09

Most people are fed up of it all, but unfortunately being fed up doesn’t make the virus any less of a risk!

Original poster
musicalfrog · 08/06/2021 13:09

Yes Delatron the impact is what I meant although I've learnt a lot about the science by asking the question.

OP posts:
OrangeSharked · 08/06/2021 13:09

We've had a significantly higher death rate than flu. Covid waves are pretty devastating on our hospitals.

We'd like to get out of this without another major wave, if we have another wave and vaccine resistant strains emerge (because of selective pressure) we are fucked and back to square one.

So we are being cautious. Making sure we don't open up too early and throw caution to the wind. Making sure we don't end up at square one. There's still high levels of the adult population that haven't had their first dose plus every single child, there's plenty of opportunity for spread. We can't be sure that vaccines work as wed like and prevent serious illness and death, although there's some evidence to suggest they do.

As a population we have some immunity to flu, which we don't have to covid. Covid and flu are completely different viruses and we shouldn't pretend they are the same. No one wants to be in a pandemic but we don't want to be stuck in one forever because we move to fast

Flyonawalk · 08/06/2021 13:12

@OrangeSharked You mention covid having a higher death rate than flu. Not for people under 60 - for this age group flu is deadlier than covid.

Sirzy · 08/06/2021 13:14

And it’s not just about the deaths, it’s about the long term impact and sadly there seems to be a lot of covid victims who have lasting problems as a result. Obviously those problems will need treatment so we need to try to reduce numbers to keep that long term pressure down (and to stop people suffering obviously)

Delatron · 08/06/2021 13:14

I think also for children. Though I may be wrong. I read flu is more deadly.

Nightbear · 08/06/2021 13:17

Here

strangeshapedpotato · 08/06/2021 13:20

This is one reason why a high number of flu deaths are expected during the coming 2021/22 winter.

That's because there wasn't a flu season last year, so immunity levels to the virus may have waned due to lack of exposure to flu.

It's quite a different thing to suggest our immune systems are better off with exercise.

It's the equivalent of saying everyone should drive around drunk all the time so that they get used to it, so that when they DO need to drive home drunk, they are less likely to have an accident.

strangeshapedpotato · 08/06/2021 13:22

[quote Flyonawalk]@OrangeSharked You mention covid having a higher death rate than flu. Not for people under 60 - for this age group flu is deadlier than covid.[/quote]
Utter crap.

Only for very young children is flu more serious.

For your typical healthy 40 year old, covid is about 1000 times more serious.

PissPotPourri · 08/06/2021 13:22

As a pp said, there are a lot of people getting very uptight on here, and perhaps the op was a little callous with the language used. However, it demonstrates on here, even among the posters who sound as if they are talking with a lot more knowledge, that there are still so many unknowns. Pp are saying it’s not a respiratory disease. Diabetes uk amongst other health sites concur. Yet the link Sonnet posted to demonstrate the differences between Covid and flu starts off by saying it is a respiratory disease.
For me, the main difference is that it is new to us and still an unknown. The impact in terms of death rates are nothing compared to Spanish flu etc but it isn’t over yet, by a long shot, and indeed never will be- like the flu. I think it’s a case of watch and wait before we set a definitive approach and in the meantime, nobody should disparage other people’s questions or opinions because it is clear that the facts are still being discovered.

Oblomov21 · 08/06/2021 13:22

This thread is really interesting and has a couple of points I didn't know.

swimlyn · 08/06/2021 13:22

@musicalfrog

Chill your boots Nanny! We have a vaccine now. Hmm
And, OP, the vaccines are not 100% the 'magic wand' that you think they are.

Good luck unmasking! Hmm

Original poster
musicalfrog · 08/06/2021 13:24

My point, swimlyn, was that in that sense it is the same as flu. Well done for missing it.

OP posts:
colouringcrayons · 08/06/2021 13:25

Can anyone explain to me how this is different to flu now please?

People can explain it until they are blue in the face, but it's your own job to understand it. Here is a starting article: www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/no-covid-19-is-not-the-flu.html

  • Covid19 is more complex than flu, affecting the body in more varied ways
  • Covid19 has a higher death rate than flu
  • Covid19 has higher rates of post-viral impacts, more varied, more serious
MisdemeanourOnTheFloor · 08/06/2021 13:25

Of course our immune systems need 'exercising', or rather exposure to daily life to adapt & protect us.
I hadn't been ill (not even a cold) for a good 6 years, but my baby and I have recently been wiped out by a particularly nasty viral infection, that appears to have been doing the rounds based on my WhatsApp chats. A&E was recommended for my baby, where I was advised that all kinds of winter viruses are rearing their heads now, post-lockdown. Proves the case for temporary measures to protect against Covid, but also has some worrying 'unintended consequences', particularly a new generation of babies who have had contact with only 1 or 2 other humans for the 1st year of their lives. I'm concerned anyway.

Chatterbox1987 · 08/06/2021 13:26

You can't compare the diseases. However on an average flu year 10,000 people die. That's an average of just under 30 deaths a day from flu (although I get most happen over the winter)

Personally I think if we can get to a stage of being fully open with an average of less than 50 deaths a day then that needs to be used as the future bench mark for acceptable deaths per day.

QwertyGirly · 08/06/2021 13:27

First of all, they are two different diseases. I hope you understand that. It's like saying that brain cancer is the same as having migraine because they both happen on the brain.

There are differences in how contagious both the flu and Covid are, before and after showing symptoms. How the symptoms develop. How wide the range of symptoms can be. What the symptoms are (there is an overlap, of course, especially in the early symptoms, but there is also an overlap between migraine symptoms and brain tumor symptoms). How the illness develops. The rate of hospitalisation and deaths by age groups. And very importantly, the frequency and severity of long-term additional complications.

Yes, they are both viruses. But so are herpes and measles. Respiratory diseases include lung cancer and bronchitis - both are treated completely differently and are different diseases despite both attacking the lungs.

BIWI · 08/06/2021 13:29

@PissPotPourri

Pp are saying it’s not a respiratory disease

It's a respiratory disease that can also cause neurological problems:

info here

Greentrees2021 · 08/06/2021 13:29

@strangeshapedpotato

This is one reason why a high number of flu deaths are expected during the coming 2021/22 winter.

That's because there wasn't a flu season last year, so immunity levels to the virus may have waned due to lack of exposure to flu.

It's quite a different thing to suggest our immune systems are better off with exercise.

It's the equivalent of saying everyone should drive around drunk all the time so that they get used to it, so that when they DO need to drive home drunk, they are less likely to have an accident.

It's not the same at all!

A better analogy is the peanut allergy one. A while back, it was thought that children who might be at risk of a peanut allergy should not be exposed to peanuts at all. This seems logical right? But scientists ran an experiment where they exposed one group of children to small traces of peanut in their first year and found those children were much less likely to develop a peanut allergy than the group who had been completely kept away from peanuts.

Immune systems are much the same. By regularly fighting off mild germs they are much more primed and ready to fight any serious germs that come along.