Influenza or COVID-19, What’s the Difference?

Both influenza and COVID-19 can be transmitted in the same ways and both can present in the same ways. They share many similarities, but differences as well.

Both influenza and COVID-19 can

• Cause fever, cough, body aches, fatigue and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.
• Be mild or severe, but rarely fatal.
• Result in pneumonia.
• Be spread from person to person through coughing, sneezing or talking, and both can be spread before symptoms appear.

Now that you know the similarities, here’s a look at the differences between the flu and COVID-19.

Cause

• The flu can be caused by a number of different strains of influenza viruses.
• COVID-19 is caused by one virus, the novel 2019 coronavirus, although this virus has different variants.

Transmission

• The flu and COVID-19 can both be spread when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.
• COVID-19 might also be spread through the air when tiny droplets hang in the air even after the infected person leaves the room.

Treatment

• Antiviral medications, such as Tamiflu, can address some flu symptoms and possibly shorten its duration.
• There are approved medications to lessen the severity of COVID in high-risk individuals including antivirals and monoclonal antibodies.

Vaccine

• A flu shot can prevent some of the dangerous types of flu, or reduce the severity if it’s contracted.
• Getting the COVID-19 vaccine and booster can keep you safer, too. It's available to everyone 5 and older.

Using the term “coronavirus” can cause confusion as well. COVID-19 is a coronavirus, but not the only one. COVID-19 specifies a certain strain of a coronavirus (COronaVIrus Disease-2019 = COVID-19).

Human coronaviruses were first identified in the mid-1960s, and seven of them can infect people, including three that made headlines over the years:

• MERS-CoV (the beta coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS)
• SARS-CoV (the beta coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS)
• SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19)

People around the world often get infected with four other common human coronaviruses – 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1. In fact, most people get infected with one of these at some point in their life. They present like the common cold, with mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses.

The flu and any coronavirus, including COVID-19, may be prevented by frequent, thorough hand washing, wearing a mask, staying home when sick and limiting contact with infected people.

To see the latest information about COVID-19, visit the COVID-19 Resource Page on Avera.org.