Doctors are preparing for the worst-case scenario if more people are co-infected with both influenza and COVID-19 this winter
have dropped dramatically. During the first flu season during the pandemic, lockdowns kept people indoors and away from one another, limiting the virus’ ability to spread. And once people began mingling more during the next flu seasons, widespread use of masks blocked influenza’s chances of infecting large numbers of people.
That opens the possibility that people could get the two infections at the same time—which experts believe could be both unpleasant and dangerous. “Are two viruses that cause huge inflammatory responses together going to make that response worse? Theoretically, yes,” says Dr. Khalilah Gates, a pulmonary critical care physician at Northwestern University.
Animal studies also show that those who are co-infected with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza tend to do worse than those infected with either virus alone. In March, researchers in South Koreathat co-infected mice were sicker for a longer time than those with just one viral infection, and they also had higher levels of inflammation that contributed to pneumonia.
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