[ghc]

I'm a daily runner and I had influenza in February, for the first time in 30 years. I had a high fever for a full week and could not even sit up in bed.

People tend to think any bad cold is the flu, and underestimate just how bad actual influenza is. In retrospect, the narrative of "COVID is just like a bad flu" is pretty accurate, because the actual flu is a pretty traumatic experience, and the idea of getting a worse version is terrifying.

[kstrauser]

Hah! I had that exact reaction. So many medicines are labeled like “X Cold and Flu”, like “X Stubbed Toe and Decapitation”, and people start thinking about them as similar.

No, they’re. Not. One is miserable. The other invites pleas for a quick and merciful death.

[apelapan]

Influenza is not necessarily that bad, though it can be.

Most of the time influenza is not worse than a normal cold. You will have plenty of partial immunity via previous infections and vaccinations that takes the edge of most infections.

Same as COVID. Most of the infections are not even noticed by the ones infected. But sometimes it is/was extremely bad, if you had no previous exposure/vaccination, a large amount of bad luck and/or pre existing condition.