HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Over the past few years, there’s been a spike in COVID-19 cases after the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We’re all traveling all over the country and spreading these strains all over the place and so those are the two major factors,” Dr. Jill Roberts with the USF College of Public Health.
Doctors believe this year won’t be any different, although they’re not sure exactly how big the surge will be.
“I’m not sure that we’re going to see the spike in the kind of virulence of really strong COVID effects,” said Dr. Jay Wolfson, Distinguished Service Professor of Public Health for the University of South Florida.
What is different this year is doctors seem more concerned about the flu than COVID-19 this time around.
"We’re going to see a bump in cases after the holidays for both COVID, perhaps, but more importantly with flu right now,” said Dr. Timothy Hendrix with AdventHealth.
Flu cases were already starting to spread in Florida before the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We’ve had about a 30% increase in the number of cases coming into our Centra Care Urgent Cares in the last two weeks,” said Hendrix.
Now after Thanksgiving, health officials are worried we’ll see a bigger uptick from all the gatherings and travel.
For both the flu and COVID-19, doctors expect to see more cases begin to pop up next week.
That’s why it’s important to know the symptoms. While they’re similar, there are some slight differences.
For COVID-19, you can get a sore throat, headache, a fever over time, cough, shortness of breath, congestion, and loss of taste and smell.
For flu, it can be a bit different.
“This time of year, I remind people of the symptoms of influenza. That is that sudden onset of a high fever. This isn’t just a cough or scratchy throat or just feeling a little bit yucky. This is a serious infection, and you will know it. You’ll have the high fever, body aches, chills,” said Hendrix.
For both viruses, doctors can prescribe medication to help manage symptoms if taken shortly after they start.
If you haven’t gotten an updated vaccine for either the flu or COVID-19 and you’re eligible, doctors encourage you to do so now before we head into the thick of respiratory season.
“Between 40-60,000 people a year die of influenza. So, getting the flu vaccine is something that we’ve used to protect ourselves a little bit from severe cases. And even in the case of the COVID vaccine, its intention is to reduce the likelihood of severe impact,” said Wolfson.
Doctors also stress the importance of taking extra care of yourself this time of year to stay healthy.
“During the holidays, you’re traveling, you’re going to be at risk of exposure to these respiratory viruses. Make sure to take care of yourself. Your immune system needs to be babied during this period of time. How do you take care of your immune system? By getting plenty of rest, a good balanced diet, but I remind people that those of us who don’t get enough sleep at night, we have good evidence to show those people get more coughs, and colds, and flus during the year than the people that get seven or eight hours of sleep at night. So make sure you take care of yourself,” said Hendrix.
