Flu Season and Covid-19 Are About to Collide. Now What?

In parts of the United States, autumn is coming. The mornings have a coolness. The dogwood leaves show an edge of color. And outside pharmacies, the banners of fall are appearing: “Flu shots here.”

This year in particular, health authorities hope Americans will listen. The overlap of the influenza season and the coronavirus pandemic could overwhelm the health care system if people don’t take the vaccine and the incidence of flu is high. Planners are worried about renewed pressure on hospital beds and protective equipment, and less visible pressure on laboratories, which have to use the same machinery and supplies to analyze diagnostic tests for both Covid-19 and flu.

“Coronavirus and influenza are going to compete for the same ER space, the same hospital beds, the same ICU beds, the same ventilators, the same personal protective equipment, the same staff,” says Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who also works in several Pennsylvania hospitals as an infectious disease and critical care physician. “It's going to be extremely difficult in terms of hospital surge planning and capacity.”