In the years 2020-21, Canada saw just 69 confirmed cases of influenza. However, some experts believe we are less immune to flu after two decades of social isolation. A message from Flycatchers is delivered at my door every Tuesday morning informing me that I need to go to the Health Canada website to answer two questions: Have I experienced one of) fever or 2)) an illness such as a cough during the last week? The entire process is five minutes. I’m among thousands of volunteers across the country who complete the brief every week (depending on the answers, it could include some additional questions). It’s a simple but vital component of the national surveillance system.

If you dismiss influenza as just a cold that’s not so bad, think about this research taken from Statistics Canada: Between 2015 and 2019, on the average, “influenza as well as pneumonia” was the 6th leading cause of mortality in the nation which killed an estimated 7,333 Canadians every year. Like COVID-19, it strikes the most vulnerable people hardest; however, it’s unpredictable and can affect healthy and young people.

Every season of flu is a time of uncertainty. Because the vaccine is changed every year, based on the influenza strains expected to be dominant, it could take months of actual data before the experts can determine the vaccine’s effectiveness. However, in the year 2019-20, the final year in which there were lots of information, the flu shot was able to provide “moderate protection against influenza A(H1N1) with a rate of 43 percent, as well as adequate defense against both the influenza A(H3N2) in addition to influenza B at 50 percent and 65 percent respectipercentealth Canada reported.

The season of 2019-20 ended “abruptly,” eight weeks ahead of schedule, and in March 2020s late-March, Health Canada reported. The main reason was the shut-down of businesses and schools, and people who stayed at home during the onset of the epidemic. “All of our efforts against Covid-19 eliminated the flu,” says.

The season of 2020-21 was more unique due to “deficient levels of influenza,” Health Canada stated. In the final days of the year with flu, only 69 cases of influenza were confirmed in laboratory tests, which is a drastic decrease from “the previous six seasons when an average of 52,169 cases were detected.”
There is concern that the upcoming season of flu and colds could seem much more “normal.” Immunizations indicate that people are socializing in ways that would have been unimaginable one year ago. In addition, the school is back in session, and in some provinces, the indoor dining scene is at total capacity. This means that people will have plenty of opportunities to transmit viruses to others, such as the flu.

“As COVID-19’s containment measures are being relaxed across the globe and other respiratory viruses that was slowed under COVID-19 rules in 2020-21 are beginning to increase,” noted authors of a research study in preprint which simulated how the flu season would be similar to that within the United States for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They cite Western Australia, which found respiratory synovial disease (RSV) cases in children to be significantly more than the previous peak seasons after the nation eased its social distancing rules. According to the study, RSV cases have been rising throughout the United States this summer, much earlier than the typical timeframe. In addition, Hong Kong has reported seven times more major school outbreaks of acute respiratory tract infections this year.

In Canada, doctors are receiving more cold patients and respiratory infections. As well, the reappearance of common rhinoviruses and RSV concerns Kwong. “If they’re spreading, why isn’t flu?” he says. Notably, he points out the high number of cases of RSV within Quebec, and, in recent times, it has been reported in Ottawa. He adds that RSV, which mainly affects children, is the second to influenza when it causes severe disease.
In the United States, there is increasing anxiety that more than two years of precautions against pandemics means that the systems of our bodies aren’t upgraded with the latest viruses and operate with outdated information, just as smartphones before operating system updates. In a typical flu season, there are around 500 000 hospitalizations in the United States, according to the preprint study of the CDC. Its modeling suggests there could be up to 100,000 “additional hospitalizations” in 2021-22” in “a massive compensatory influenza season” in 2021-22 because of an upcoming light season, which is expected to occur in 2020-21.

“I’m not sure about this,” Kwong says about the study’s modeling. One reason is that immunity can last for a lengthy period. For instance, he notes that when the H1N1 pandemic struck in 2009, The older Canadians were not as affected as was expected, possibly because they’d experienced or been exposed to a similar form in the form of flu before. “If you’re able to have some immunity from years ago, then being immune to flu for a couple of years might not make any distinction,” he says.

“Control the things you can manage,” is King’s simple guidance. “We’ve learned much from COVID,” Kwong says that we should “use certain tools to fight influenza,” such as having a flu vaccine and other health methods that have become routine in this epidemic, such as washing your hands regularly, using masks, and restricting social contact. Improved ventilation, such as via HEPA filters like those utilized in schools, can also aid.

Canada is making preparations. On October. 7th, the National advisory committee for Immunization (NACI) recommended all vaccines for seasonal flu that “may be administered simultaneously or before or following the administration of any other vaccines, which includes COVID-19 vaccinations.” In the meantime, provinces and their local health centers are stepping up flu vaccination campaigns for those who are most at risk, like seniors and people living in congregate environments such as long-term care facilities. For Ontario, flu shots for those under 65 will be offered to begin in November. 1.

Similar to previous years, the flu season could come out to be as disastrous as you’d expect. Current surveillance updates in Australia, which has an earlier seasonal influenza season, report that “influenza-like-illness activity in the community remains at historically low levels in 2021.” However, that may be partly due to recent strict lockdowns in the country.
While no one is certain what the future holds and how Canada will be able to weather this winter, they can have one thing in common that after nearly two decades of suffering from COVID-19 with health care systems overloaded to its limit, making sure that everyone who can receive influenza shots is more crucial than ever before.

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