Washington Post Flu has overtaken covid in infections and hospitalizations during the winter respiratory virus season, and their virulence is becoming similar. Heard about a lot of people getting flu this winter but not much about covid?
It’s not just you. For the second winter in a row, the United States has faced a punishing flu season, with covid as a more muted threat.
Early in the covid pandemic, coronavirus proved far more transmissible and deadly as it ripped through the world than the flu typically was. Flu was almost nonexistent that first pandemic winter in 2020-2021.
Now that SARS-CoV-2 is no longer a novel virus sweeping through a population with little immunity, covid and influenza illnesses are becoming more similar, with a key difference: Coronavirus circulates year-round and ticks up in the summer, when flu is gone.