‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, cold and flu germs were stirring — and your cousin’s kid just coughed right in your mouth.
There has probably been a similar version of this take on the classic Christmas poem A Visit From St. Nicholas in a cheeky cough syrup commercial at some point, instilling the fear that you could fall ill over the holidays.
But ’tis the season to get sick — and for families and friends to pass around bugs like unwanted gifts.
“This time of year, when we are all gathering for the holidays with our loved ones, including young and old, it is an important moment for everyone to take care of each other,” said Dr. Natasha Crowcroft, Canada’s acting chief public health officer, in a statement last week.
Canada is currently experiencing a surge in flu cases, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), one that’s hitting earlier than previous years. And according to PHAC, the dominant strain of influenza circulating, H3N2, is more likely to cause severe illness — especially among seniors and young children.
Doctors and health officials say getting vaccinated is the best line of defence, but there are other steps we can take to stay healthy.
So before you pack up the family and head from one celebration to another, here are some helpful tips to help have a flu-free holiday.
According to Health Canada, 27.7 per cent of flu tests done during the week of Dec. 7 came back positive, marking the country’s highest flu positivity rate in the last three seasons.
Stick to the basics
Being around groups of people is going to increase your chances of getting sick, says Toronto pharmacist Deanna Kang.
That’s why it’s even more important to take precautions to avoid coming into contact with viruses, she said.
Viruses like influenza and SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, infect your nose throat and lungs, either through breathing in saliva or mucous particles — if someone who’s sick sneezes or coughs on you, for example.
But you can also get infected by rubbing your eyes, nose or mouth after touching surfaces with infected particles on them, as well as through shaking hands or passing an object (as this cute but ominous TikTok video below warns).
PHAC recommends washing your hands often with soap for at least 20 seconds.
Hand sanitizer with at least 60 per cent alcohol is a good substitute when you don’t have access to soap and water. Just be sure to rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds or until they’re dry.
And definitely don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth unless you have cleaned your hands, the agency says.
Another important practice to limit your chance of catching or passing on a virus is something the Ottawa Hospital says was a “lesson from pre-school we should all continue to heed”: cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
Dr. Michaeline McGuinty, an infectious diseases specialist at the Ottawa Hospital, says simply taking care of yourself through respiratory flu season makes a big difference.
“Be sure to get enough sleep, exercise regularly and eat healthy — all the things your mother told you to do,” she said in a post on the hospital’s website. “Turns out, this is extremely good advice for reducing the risk of catching the flu and of developing a more serious illness if you do catch it.”
Mask and be merry
Gone are the days of COVID-19 mask mandates, though some hospitals and care facilities across Canada have once again instituted mandatory mask policies, which is common this time of year as flu and other respiratory illnesses spread.
You may want to be prepared with masks if you’re paying a holiday visit to a loved one in a hospital or senior’s home with other vulnerable people.
But you can also mask up in other situations, says Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital.
“Many of these respiratory viruses, they’re transmitted primarily in indoor settings through the air,” he said.
While he says masking won’t eliminate your risk of contracting or spreading an illness, it can reduce the risk of infection.
Flu cases are rising across Canada, including in Alberta where 650 people are currently in hospital and as Dr. Louis Francescutti explains, a few factors are making this season especially bad.
Any place with “a lot of people who are sick and breathing heavily” is a good place to wear a mask, including public transit, says Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency physician in Toronto.
“If you’re taking the bus, taking the train, taking the subway, I think that’s another obvious place” to wear a mask, he said.
But when it comes to planes, Dr. Nicky Longley, a travel medicine doctor at University College London Hospitals, says they’re actually quite safe spaces thanks to the air filtrations systems on board.
“Unless you have someone sitting directly next to you or perhaps right in front of you that turns around and coughs in your face, your risk on the plane is small,” she said in a travel health Q&A video posted on YouTube earlier this year.
Most modern passenger jets, according to the International Air Transport Association, are equipped with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (or HEPA) filters that are capable of removing more than 99 per cent of bacteria and viruses and that the air in the cabin is refreshed 20-30 times an hour.
However, the Government of Canada says that though masks are not required on planes, it does “strongly recommend” wearing them to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses.
But Longley says you’re most likely to pick up germs from touching surfaces and then eating, or while you’re waiting in the airport, because it’s essentially a “big hangar of people standing around.”
No place like home
The easiest thing to do to prevent catching or passing on illness is to stay home, especially if you’re not feeling well, says Kang.
“Just be honest and and present with how you feel so that we can ensure that we’re healthy getting past the holiday season,” she said.
Bogoch agrees, saying it’s for the sake of your own health and that of others.
“If people are sick with the flu or with anything else, there’s no point going to work or sending your kids to school or going to a holiday party and getting everyone else sick,” he said.
Only about four in 10 Canadians get the flu shot each year, but doctors say that’s not enough. Here’s why the vaccine still matters, who benefits most and what the latest research shows.
