HWN Suggests

Here’s the Real Deal on Flurona

Two years of pandemic have us primed to panic at every headline. A new variant, a new complication, a new baffling policy move. Now, headlines have brought an alarmingly exotic new word to stoke our fears: flurona.

... the Times of Israel published an article with the headline, “‘Flurona’: Israel Records Its First Case of Patient With COVID and Flu at Same Time.” The first wave of follow-up aggregation articles in other outlets was staid, merely repeating the report. But soon enough the combination of anxiety and pandemic exhaustion led headline writers into a strange cutesy fearmongering: The Daily Beast grimly christened flurona “2022’s Hottest New Illness” and the Cut’s headline…

read full article

Featured

 Hearing people talk about ‘flurona?’ Here’s the deal

Co-infections may be more common, but they’ve been around since 2020.

 What Is ‘Flurona’? What to Know About Co-Infections of Covid-19 and the Flu

It is unclear whether having Covid-19 and the flu at the same time results in more severe illness,

 ‘Flurona’ Is a Great Example of How Misinformation Blooms

A catchy name has spawned false statements and panic over being infected with two viruses at once.

Articles of Interest

Can You Get the Flu and Covid at the Same Time?

People have been testing positive for both Covid-19 and influenza, or flu, since the pandemic began.

Don’t Panic About 'Flurona'. There’s Nothing Unique About Catching the Flu and COVID-19 At the Same Time

The two diseases do not combine to make some hybrid form of either virus, which makes “flurona” a bit of a fearmongering misnomer. But co-infection is becoming more common. Having COVID-19 and the flu at the same time has been a possibility since the beginning of the pandemic, but until now, rigorous safety precautions largely prevented such concerns from coming to fruition.

The Double-Whammy COVID-Flu

It’s becoming clear that “coinfections” happen all the time. Just how bad are they?

‘Flurona’ has hit the U.S. Here’s what it is and the symptoms

And while the term may be new, the bigger-picture confluence of both respiratory infections within the U.S. population has been happening for years. Health experts have been warning about the possibility of a “twindemic,” a scenario in which spikes in cases of COVID-19 and a simultaneous rough flu season overwhelm the country’s hospital systems...

‘Flurona’ Isn’t A New Virus, It’s Just Someone With Covid-19 And The Flu

If someone is unfortunate enough to have the flu and gonorrhea, we don’t generally say they have “gonnorflu” or if they have chickenpox and Covid-19: covipox, but humans are prone to be a little dramatic, especially at stressful times like these. Flurona also is not new. It has also occurred in people since the very start of the pandemic in 2020.