How to care for ageing relatives
When it comes to ageing relatives, health care is usually top of mind. But did you know that sorting out some legal paperwork could make your life easier for any health care issues that arise?
The authorities keep telling us that COVID-19 is nothing like the flu, so why this immediate push for everyone to go out and get the flu shot?
The flu shot is usually scheduled for release mid-April to May to cover the flu period through to early October-ish,1 to try to prevent up to 3000 Australian deaths, 18,000 hospitalisations and 300,000 GP consultations occurring each year.2
COVID-19 has, along with everything else in our lives, changed all that and doctors want us to get the jab pronto!
Nope. But it does stop most people getting influenza, and the benefit is twofold:
The simple answer is that they are two different viruses. The flu vaccine is altered every season to work on the specific virus. Trials are still being run to find COVID-19’s kryptonite.4
Allergy | Cold | Flu | COVID-19 |
---|---|---|---|
Primary symptoms of allergies include:
|
Primary symptoms of a cold include:
|
Primary symptoms of the flu include:
|
Primary symptoms of COVID-19 include:
“It’s important for us to distinguish the difference between COVID-19 and influenza,” said William Curry, M.D., associate dean UAB primary care and rural medicine. “This will become apparent with shortness of breath.” 6 |
Transmission: You can’t catch an allergy from, or give it to someone else.5 |
Transmission: Direct contact with infected secretions on surfaces or inhaling airborne droplets.5 The bug can stay alive on surfaces for up to 7 days.6 Wash your hands and don’t touch your face. |
Transmission: Droplets from coughing, sneezing, talking, or just breathing really…well, moistly. The virus can stay alive on surfaces for several hours.6 Wash your hands and don’t touch your face to reduce your risk of infection. |
Transmission: As far as we know at this stage, coronavirus is from person to person through sneezing or coughing and the droplets containing the virus can remain on surfaces for some time. Can remain active on surfaces up to several days.4 Wash your hands and don’t touch your face to reduce your risk of infection. |
Most people over the age of 6 months can get a shot from their GP or local pharmacy. In these times it is recommended to call first to check that they are in stock, and ensure you follow their safety protocols. There should not be a shortage, but there may be safety hoops to jump through.7
Who should be getting the shot?
So, there will be a lot of tissues filling our bins in 2020, and please take every precaution not to get sick this year. Viruses don’t care about loopholes in the rules, you can’t bargain with them, and not sanitising just this once may be the open door the virus is looking for.
When it comes to ageing relatives, health care is usually top of mind. But did you know that sorting out some legal paperwork could make your life easier for any health care issues that arise?
Here’s what we learned about what young people love about health cover.
The latest Australian guidelines recommend strength training for people from five years of age and all the way into your golden years. It truly is a strength-for-all approach and the research says that we need it.