Health officials are urging people to get their flu shots as the city braces for a possible jump in hospitalizations and testing demand as flu season collides with coronavirus this fall.

Long Beach City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis said it can be difficult to tell the difference between the two viruses as they have similar symptoms like muscle aches, sore throat and fever.

If someones does get sick and they’ve already had a flu shot, that can help to narrow down the culprit, Davis said.

“It’s more important than ever that everyone get their flu shots this season,” she said.

Davis said the city is gearing up for an increase in demand for flu vaccines and is now planning for free flu clinics this fall to target the most at-risk poeple. That’s in addition to the flu shots offered at doctors offices and drugs stores like Rite Aid.

Flu season officially starts on Nov. 1. and peaks between December and February.

“We are going to have a lot of flu vaccines for the public,” she said.

While there is concern that flu season could put a strain hospitals already overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis is hopeful that this season will be milder since people are already practicing social distancing, wearing masks and washing their hands.

However, there could be an increase in demand for testing, as doctors will need to test for both viruses.

Since COVID-19 and the flu are separate viruses, a person could become infected by both, Davis said, but there are still many unknowns about how COVID-19 affects the body. A flu shot, she said, can decrease the severity of flu and will help to keep the immune system strong.

And as more students head back to school, state health officials are concerned that a substantial drop in child vaccination rates could exacerbate the confluence of the coronavirus and flu in the upcoming months.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s health and human services secretary, said the number of children vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella as they prepare to enter elementary school plummeted when schools and businesses closed in the spring, and childhood vaccinations have generally fallen from a year ago.

“This year together flu and COVID make us particularly worried and have caused us to jump-start some of that flu planning,” Ghaly said.

California has reported about 62,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in children, about 10% of the state’s overall cases, and nearly 600 children have been hospitalized, Ghaly said.

He said he hoped more children would receive their regularly scheduled vaccines as pediatricians reopened for services but was concerned because rates remain lower in August than a year ago, and noted children are especially vulnerable to the flu.

So far this year, California has seen childhood vaccinations fall by about a third from a year ago, he said.

That comes as schools in some areas of the state seek to reopen in-person instruction.

—The Associated Press contributed to this report