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COVID & FLU: how big could the dual threat be this winter?

Although COVID infections are currently low or in decline in most western countries aside from the UK, there’s still a long way to go before the threat of the pandemic is over. A big concern this winter is if there’s a resurgence of COVID with other respiratory illnesses coming back strongly alongside it – particularly influenza.

In both the southern and northern hemispheres, influenza infections rapidly declined and largely disappeared soon into pandemic. Social distancing measures used to contain COVID were even more effective in reducing the spread of influenza. But unfortunately, this means we now need to be braced for flu to be especially bad this year.

In some ways, immune responses to COVID and influenza are the same. A relatively recent infection or vaccination provides good protection against a subsequent infection, but soon that protection starts to wane. Early reinfections, however, are generally asymptomatic or relatively mild. But the longer the gap between generating immunity and being reinfected, the more severe the subsequent infection is likely to be.

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