While influenza and COVID-19 are similar in their symptoms and transmission, there are a few important distinctions to make:
Treatment  Currently, there is no vaccine available for COVID-19. For the flu, a vaccine is available to prevent severe symptoms of the most dangerous strains of the flu.
Fatality Rate  While numbers are ever-changing, stats seem to be indicating that the fatality rate of COVID-19 is higher than most flus but it is unclear at this time. Generally, the seasonal flu fatality rate in the U.S. is under 1%.