SOUTH CAROLINA — It is possible to get COVID-19 and the flu at the exact same time.
DHEC’s epidemiologist says it could lead to serious complications. Here’s more from our news partner WBTV News.
”It’s a scary thing. It really is,” says Aisha Loveless, who has protected her family from COVID-19 since the beginning.
Everything in her house gets cleaned and her children go to school virtually. Social distancing and wearing a mask is almost normal.
”It does make me nervous. Absolutely and my family and I have to work and they have to go to school and my health is involved,” says Loveless.
As the pandemic still rages on, another disease is gearing up for its regular season.
The flu. A disease with a vaccine that Loveless says she might not get.
”I did get the flu two years ago and it was not a fun experience. But I don’t feel like the flu shot is what keeps you from getting the flu,” says Loveless. She says her mind is just one of the many DHEC’s state epidemiologist Linda Bell is trying to change.
”No one should forget the alarm we experience each and every year when we start seeing flu cases and deaths pop up,” Bell says.
Dr. Bell says you can get the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. So she’s urging people to get ahead of it with the flu vaccine.
”Many generations before us would have given anything to have a flu vaccine and so we must use the vaccine that medical science has afforded us,” says Dr. Bell.
Loveless says she’s waiting to do more research before she takes a needle to the arm. She says, ”If its out for a while and I see that its working then yes I probably would.”
State health officials say COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death for South Carolinians — it comes behind cancer and heart disease.
