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Flu season in Alberta is off to a rough start.
Data from the province indicates there have already been 428 lab-confirmed cases of seasonal influenza — and one death — since the season began on Aug. 30.
The person who died was in the 70- to 79-year-old age range and lived in the Calgary area.
From Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, there were 194 influenza cases, 21 hospitalizations and two ICU cases.
The flu vaccine doesn’t become available until Oct. 19, with the exception of some congregate care settings in which the province says the vaccine is already being administered to vulnerable people.
Craig Jenne, an infectious diseases professor at the University of Calgary, told CBC Radio’s The Homestretch that the flu season in the Southern Hemisphere typically predicts what the situation will look like farther north.
“What they saw was a fairly reasonable flu season,” he said, referring to Australia. “Early arrival, lots of cases early in the season, but the strain of flus that were circulating were fairly typical.”
Vaccination rates down, hospitalization up
Jenne pointed out that Alberta has experienced consecutive declining flu vaccination rates for the last few years.
“As a result, we’ve unfortunately seen record years of hospitalizations and severe illness,” he said. “So we do want to try and get those vaccine numbers up if we want to keep people healthy and out of the hospital.”
As of Monday, 250 people have died in Alberta during flu season. The situation has health experts concerned, with some calling for the province to do more.
“Alberta is monitoring respiratory virus activity closely,” the province’s Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services said in a statement.
“Influenza activity is elevated for this time of year, while COVID-19 and RSV activity remain low relative to previous respiratory virus seasons.”
University of Alberta School of Public Health professor and emergency physician Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti says immunization rates are a key indicator of a health-care system’s performance.
“Coming out of COVID, there was a lot of vaccine hesitancy,” he said. “But, you know, the government’s got to accept some responsibility that they should be pushing immunization far more than they’re doing right now.”
Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta and an emergency physician, pictured in a file photo. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
“Influenza’s not just a cold; influenza’s a pretty nasty virus,” Francescutti said, emphasizing that vaccination is crucial for protecting high-risk individuals such as the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those with underlying medical conditions.
“The good news is that influenza by and large is mostly preventable if you get vaccinated,” he said.
Francescutti said while not getting vaccinated is a personal choice people have the right to make, they’re putting themselves and others at risk.
He said people who don’t get vaccinated should wash their hands, wear a mask, and stay home when sick to avoid infecting others.
