# Do You Have The Flu? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023 "2020-03-22T12:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/21 "2020-03-22T16:02:37Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > If I came down with ambiguous, flu-like, COVID-19-like symptoms, wouldn’t the fact that I had a seasonal flu shot suggest that the infection was more likely COVID-19? Not necessarily. This year’s flu vaccine was about 50% effective. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/22 "2020-03-22T16:04:38Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Oh, great. Does a productive cough still not count as a COVID-19 symptom? It is the only symptom I am showing. I’ve had it for more than 14 days already also, I tend to get a persistent cough most winters. Does it matter? I hope you’re self isolating. As long as you don’t need respiratory support, and not still running a significant fever, you’re handling it. Diagnosing it won’t make much difference, unless you absolutely must come out of self-isolation. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/23 "2020-03-22T16:19:48Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Oh, must we? Last time I saw them was in 2009 after H1N1. I’m sure they’re in that one file cabinet in the corner office. Not sure where the key to it is, though. And that was just the plan for that one institution. The other 33 institutions and centers should each have their individual plans stored onsite. Check with the site warden or health unit managers there. Yeah, I know we’ve had a lot of turnover recently and a ton of those positions are still vacant. No, we don’t have a master plan down in central office. Central’s contingency plan just says to follow the directions of the Institutional Health Service director. Yeah, I know we’re looking for a new director now since we’ve been without one for 6 months. No, I’m **NOT** the acting director. And now I’ve got a headache. And a cough. AND a fever. ☹ ”Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Unfortunately, there has been a failure to make, review, update, and enact plans to deal with a pandemic across the board, and of course massively underfunded corrections systems are at the bottom in terms of preparedness even though they are innately vulnerable to epidemics for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, epidemiologists around the world are muttering under their collective breath, “I’ve been telling you this was going to happen for my entire career…” Good luck to you and your staff, **Qadgop**. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/24 "2020-03-22T16:26:12Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Does it matter? I hope you’re self isolating. As long as you don’t need respiratory support, and not still running a significant fever, you’re handling it. Diagnosing it won’t make much difference, unless you absolutely must come out of self-isolation. No fever and the cough is minor. I’m not out in public but I’m in a household with my family and have been the entire time I’ve had this cough. So way too late now if it is anything contagious. No temp, nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/25 "2020-03-22T16:36:18Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Unfortunately, there has been a failure to make, review, update, and enact plans to deal with a pandemic across the board, and of course massively underfunded corrections systems are at the bottom in terms of preparedness even though they are innately vulnerable to epidemics for a variety of reasons. With underfunding, massive unfilled staff vacancies, position elimination due to a desire to reduce the number of government employees, and a public attitude of “why do those prisoners even _get_ healthcare”, our normal operating mode is to run as fast as we can to stay where we are, or at least to slip back as slow as possible. Then this hits. Thanks for thinking of me, **Stranger**. Good to see you back. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/26 "2020-03-22T18:38:00Z")
\*\*QtM, \*\* I hope you feel better soon. Same to you, **MortSahlFan.** ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/27 "2020-03-22T18:57:20Z")
> [@susan](#): > > \*\*QtM, \*\* I hope you feel better soon. Same to you, **MortSahlFan.** Thank you… Everyone stay healthy. My only recommendation is to avoid people. The minute I unquarantined myself to get food, I got sick. I don’t have a debit/credit/phonew/app, so you might be able to avoid going to the grocery store and having it delivered. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/28 "2020-03-22T19:10:23Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t know if it works against this years strain but I’m glad I got a flu shot. I had the flu a couple years ago and I was sick for a month. > > I’m just getting over a cold which I’m pretty sure was a cold and not COVID because I had a runny nose, mild fever and productive cough. I don’t think any of those are symptoms of COVID, that has a high fever, no runny nose and a dry cough. Also I had no body aches other than back pain from coughing. I had a stuffy nose beginning in late January, which caused post-nasal drip, and therefore, a productive cough, and not a particularly forceful or persistent one. NO FEVER. It didn’t get better or worse, but I was blowing my nose a lot, including way back when Corona virus was something that was China’s problem. I called the doctor anyway, when the first schools started closing. She is familiar with my seasonal allergies, and she said they could have started early, because we had a couple of weeks of unusually warm weather, after a winter that started in October (yes, I know that’s not literal-- she was referring to the very cold late October we had). So she diagnosed seasonal allergies, and said “Claritin and an OTC decongestant.” It’s been working pretty well. From what my doctor says “cold” medicines don’t do crap for colds, and even less for the flu, or things like strep, but they are very good for allergies. Still, every time I blow my nose or clear my throat, I’m sure everyone is staring at me. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023/29 "2020-03-22T19:15:07Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > No fever and the cough is minor. I’m not out in public but I’m in a household with my family and have been the entire time I’ve had this cough. So way too late now if it is anything contagious. No temp, nothing else. sounds like you’re golden, then. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-the-flu/850023.md?page=1)