Like many of you, we had to make the difficult decision to basically forgo the holidays with extended family this year. With a growing belly and numbers on the rise, the risk of the unknown was too much a burden to bear. Honestly, before COVID, I did not give much thought to getting sick. It rarely happened. Even while I was teaching high school physical education. After I got pregnant with CJ, my doctor encouraged a flu shot and we have gotten them ever since. When my husband brought the flu home from a business trip last year, I did not get it, but unfortunately our 1-year old did. It was a rough go for a couple of days, but they came through it just fine.
After chatting on IGTV with the experts from Baptist Health South Florida, we turned our attention from coronavirus to the flu. They shared that the seasonal spread of the flu is still underway and as we patiently await the coronavirus vaccine, it is recommended to safeguard yourself from the flu. For years, I was of the party that I did not want or need the vaccine, but the experience that I have had the past few years is that is readily available, relatively painless and thankfully, I remained symptom free. I also felt really lucky not to contract from my little family last year.
Katie Acquino, D.O., medical director at Baptist Health Urgent Care in West Boca Raton says that symptoms for both the flu and COVID-19 are largely similar. Symptom may range from: fever, runny nose and cough to sore throat, body aches, malaise and fatigue. “It’s even possible for someone to have both at the same time,” she says. “If your symptoms also include loss of sense of smell and taste, headaches or gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, that may indicate a COVID-19 infection.”
If you want to learn more about pregnancy and childhood pre-cautions, take a few moments to watch this IGTV. A big takeaway for me is that it takes about 2 weeks for the vaccine to kick in! If there is additional holiday plans in the works you can consider getting your your free Flu Shot at a local Baptist Health Urgent Care or Urgent Care Express location. Schedule an appointment today .
Stay safe! Social distance, wear your masks, wash your hands and we will get through this.