Italy is struggling to contain COVID-19, or coronavirus, as they place entire cities on lockdown.

An interesting side-effect of the spread of the virus is that it’s opened up conversations about the flu – you know that virus that we all get once or twice a year, unless vaccinated.

Italy has a pretty high mortality rate for flu, according to a study that looked into seasonal cases between 2013 and 2017.

Before we take a closer look at that, we need to cover the basics.

This infographic is a good starting point for unpacking the differences between coronavirus, flu, and allergies:

Cool. Let’s break it down more with CNN:

If you have the same allergies, at around the same time every year, then that’s your first clue that this isn’t the coronavirus – especially if it’s centralised in the head, you have itchy eyes and an itchy nose. You should wash your hands more often because you’re more likely to touch your face or scratch your eyes.

Cold and flu symptoms will resolve themselves, while coronavirus will make you feel tired, achy, and unable to get out of bed. Then there are the respiratory symptoms. If you’re having trouble breathing and have been in contact with someone who has travelled or if you have travelled, you should seek medical attention.

Now that you’re up to date with the basic info, back to Italy.

According to the study, a total of 68 000 deaths were attributable to flu epidemics in the winter months between 2013 and 2017.

This is likely due to the fact that Italy has an ageing population, and the elderly are more at risk, generally.

Over to The International Business Times, for what this means for the country, when it comes to coronavirus.

The average death rate, calculated by dividing absolute number of infections by confirmed deaths, shows more people in Italy are dying of coronavirus than in the rest of the world.

According to the Johns Hopkins live map, at the time of writing, Italy has a recorded 10 149 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 631 deaths.

The average death rate, calculated by dividing absolute number of infections by confirmed deaths, shows more people in Italy are dying of coronavirus than in the rest of the world. According to Italian health officials, the great majority of victims are elderly people. In fact, all those who died are above the age 60. And most of them had pre-existing health conditions, the officials have said.

Those same pre-existing conditions, along with the age of victims also accounts for the high rates of death from the common flu.

In January this year, Italy reported that since flu season started in October 2019, over 2 million cases of flu were recorded, resulting in 240 deaths. Most of these fatal cases were elderly patients who suffered complications as a result of the virus.

In other words, don’t panic, but take precautions if you’re elderly or have respiratory problems.

[source:cnn&ibm]

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