'Flurona' - flu and COVID infection - found in California

A case of ‘flurona,' a simultaneous infection of influenza and the coronavirus has been found in a child in California. 

Officials at a COVID-19 testing site in Los Angeles County said a child tested positive for both Influenza A and SARS-CoV-2.  In addition, the boy’s mother tested positive for COVID-19 the next day. 

RELATED: New COVID-19 variant named IHU discovered in France

Influenza and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses but are caused by different viruses.

It is the first case of its kind found in Southern California, but not in the U.S.

This comes after an unvaccinated pregnant woman tested positive for both illnesses last week at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, the Times of Israel reported.

The highly contagious Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 continue to fuel surges nationwide. 

RELATED: Biden urges schools to remain open amid COVID-19 case surge, orders 20M antiviral pills

About 85,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, just short of the delta-surge peak of about 94,000 in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The all-time high during the pandemic was about 125,000 in January of last year.

As of Monday, New York state had just over 10,000 people in the hospital with COVID-19, including 5,500 in New York City. That’s the most in either the city or state since the disastrous spring of 2020.

With the Associated Press.