Canada's flu season is off to an unusually early start, and British Columbia is leading the country. Fresh statistics released by Health Canada indicate a prompt start to the influenza season in B.C., with more than five per cent of tests detecting influenza in the week of October 4.
Health officials track the start of respiratory virus season through laboratory detections, and crossing the five-per-cent positivity mark this early is the kind of signal that usually arrives later in the fall. An early start raises the prospect of a longer season for hospitals and clinics, which plan staffing and capacity around the winter respiratory surge.
The B.C. numbers put the province at the forefront nationwide, ahead of the pace in other regions. For residents, the practical advice from public health is unchanged but more urgent than usual in mid-October: get the seasonal flu shot when it is offered, stay home when sick, and take extra care around infants, seniors and people with chronic conditions.
Health Canada publishes its respiratory virus surveillance through the season, and the coming weeks will show whether the early B.C. detections are a head start that fades or the leading edge of a heavy national season. Either way, the early data has moved flu from a November concern to an October one.
