COVID-19 2nd wave The impact of the flu season
Introduction – Winter is coming
Be wary of false information floating around! Be confident and remember the importance of self-isolation and do not forget the risk COVID-19 has to offer. It’s also important to distinguish that a wide range of cases can occur during a pandemic, especially during the upcoming winter season– where a lot of people will be prone to catching colds and the flu.
What the 2nd wave means
The 2nd wave is an arbitrary way to refer to the potential spike in COVID-19 cases after the ‘first’ wave has been taken care of. Post the removal of lock down restrictions and possibly people neglecting social distancing, a contagious and infectious disease like COVID-19 could have a very implicating outcome during the Flu season / Winter period.
Flu season and how winter will impact social distancing
What to expect?
Prevention is better than cure; there are significant discussions about the need to be clean, maintaining social distance, using face masks and sanitizers to avoid one’s chances of getting COVID-19. But there is not enough information regarding the importance of fitness and health to boost one’s immune system to have a fighting chance against it. Although it isn’t a proven fact that boosting your immune system will completely prevent COVID-19, but it surely can reduce the impact and risk of getting it.
Exercise and fitness: It’s advised to do at least the minimum amount of exercise which would be around 45min to 1 hour. As a beginner you should be looking for a routine that matches your goal, schedule and something you can progress with:
- For a basic understand of different muscle groups and exercises that can be done to aid progress: https://musclewiki.com/
- To calculate your total daily energy expenditure (estimate) : https://tdeecalculator.net/ (this will give a relative idea of your caloric in take)
Strong lift 5×5 – click the title
Get relatively strong with progressive overload. This is great to help improve your relative strength and general lifts
Bodyweight Fitness/Weighted training – click the title
The fitness wiki is a great resource for all things fitness for newbies and even people that have been training for a while – it shouldn’t be a replacement when it comes to medical advice but when it comes to training and knowledge it’s good to look into Make sure to check out the fitness wiki
Click here for the: New to fitness guide
General Vaccines: Make sure you’ve been properly vaccinated for regular flu and general vaccines you should have taken. While getting a flu vaccine will not protect against COVID-19, there are many important benefits, such as: Flu vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of flu illness, hospitalization, and death. Getting a flu vaccine can also save healthcare resources for the care of patients with COVID-19. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-benefits
Nutrition and vitamins: It’s very important to ensure your meals are nutritious for further details check: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/covid19
Don’t smoke: Smokers have an increased risk of catching infections and suffering severe complications from those infections. We shouldn’t need more reasons not to smoke, but a time like this highlights the importance even more.
Get adequate sleep: Sleep is important for health in general, and as a bonus it may also benefit our immune function. For instance, one study showed those with insomnia had, on average, less immune response to the influenza vaccine, while another study in twins showed those with worse sleep had altered expression of genes related to immune function.
Misconceptions
Is the public water supply contaminated with COVID-19?
There’s no evidence that the virus has spread through the water supply. In fact, the treatment in water facilities protects us from pathogens.
If I feel sick and I’m worried I may have contracted COVID-19, should I visit an emergency room of InstaCare immediately?
If you’re experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, find out if you should be tested by calling:
For the USA: the COVID-19 Hotline at 844-442-5224.
For England: 111 or download the NHS app
For other countries you may want to call your respected medical professional health line
Calling ahead allows a medical professional to assess your symptoms over the phone and determine if you should be tested for COVID-19.You will likely be referred to testing if you have one of the COVID-19 symptoms (subject to testing capacity).
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include:
Fever
Cough
Difficulty breathing
Muscle aches and chills
Decreased sense of smell or taste
Sore throat
For more information