While fall brings football, first-rate leaves, and pumpkin spice, it also begins cold-illness season, when people typically come down with colds, or worse, flu Or COVID-19.

Here’s the difference between COVID and the flu, and why Pennsylvanians should be concerned about the latest COVID and flu trends.

More flu, less COVID in Pennsylvania

Latest forecast indicators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the trend of COVID-19 is down in Pennsylvaniaas the flu trend increases.

However, the health threat posed by these two phenomena is no less real, as Pennsylvania has seen a increase in deaths from COVID-19 in October.

What is the difference between COVID and flu symptoms?

COVID And flu the symptoms can be very similar, because both diseases are respiratory infections with overlapping signs.

Common symptoms of COVID and flu include fever, cough, runny or stuffy nose, fatigue, and body aches.

However, COVID is more likely to cause loss of taste or smell, a less common symptom with the flu.

COVID can also cause more serious complications, such as respiratory distress or blood clotting problems, and symptoms may last longer or come on more gradually than those of the flu.

The flu usually has a shorter incubation periodup to four days after exposure, while COVID symptoms can take up to 14 days to develop.

Why does my throat hurt in the morning?

If you wake up with a sore throat, it’s more likely caused by the flu than by COVID.

“A sore throat is pain, itching, or irritation of the throat that often gets worse when you swallow,” reads the Mayo Clinic’s sore throat advisory. “The most common cause of a sore throat (pharyngitis) is a viral infection, such as cold or flu. A sore throat caused by a virus goes away on its own.”

The flu, for its part, has caused approximately 600,000 hospitalizations and 50,000 deaths nationwide from October 2023 to June 20204.

Damon C. Williams is a Philadelphia-based journalist covering news stories in the Mid-Atlantic region.

This article was originally published on Erie Times-News: Flu on the rise in Pennsylvania; how to know if it’s the flu or COVID