Most people won't be unlucky enough to get both the flu and the coronavirus at the same time, but there are a number of shared symptoms between the two, like body aches, difficulty breathing, and fever. So if you're having any of these symptoms and aren't sure which problem you have, what should you do? This easy guide will explain it all.
Urgent Care
First things first: you should head to an urgent care center. Urgent care facilities are there to handle problems like these and are equipped to help people with both the flu and the coronavirus. Rather than heading directly to the ER and potentially waiting hours to be seen — especially now, while hospitals are swamped with coronavirus cases — it's best to go to an urgent care facility to be diagnosed before doing anything else.
Testing
When you go to the urgent care facility, you'll be taken to a screening room and a nurse or doctor will come to talk with you. Explain your symptoms and what's been going on. Don't forget anything, as determining exactly what your symptoms are will be the first step towards determining which illness you have.
From there, your doctor or nurse will run a test to determine if you have the coronavirus. This is usually done with a cheek swab and takes a little time. Since the treatment of the two illnesses is different, this is a necessary step.
Treatment
Once it's been determined whether you have the flu or the coronavirus, your doctor will go forward with treatment.
For the coronavirus, you'll likely be sent to a hospital for further screening. This is a common protocol with this disease, but since you already went to an urgent care facility you shouldn't have to worry about waiting in an emergency room first. At this time, no specific treatment plan exists for the coronavirus, so the hospital will be screening you for individual symptoms and treating them as necessary.
For the flu, treatment doesn't require going to the hospital. If your symptoms started recently, your urgent care provider will likely give you a medication that will help to shorten the duration of the flu and keep its symptoms milder. Make sure to take this medicine exactly as prescribed or it may not work as well.
Both of these conditions are life-threatening under the right circumstances, so don't ignore your symptoms and stay home. Get help from an urgent care, such as 75th St Injury & Illness Center, right away.
