‘Get vaccinated’: As flu cases cross seasonal threshold in Canada, experts urge caution

At the national level, influenza activity has crossed the seasonal threshold of 5.0 per cent positivity, according to a recent report from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

As cases of the flu continue to spread across the country, influenza activity has crossed the seasonal threshold, according to Canada’s public health agency.

With the weekly percentage of positive tests for flu sitting at 6.4 per cent — beyond the seasonal threshold of 5.0 per cent — the country could be headed toward an influenza epidemic, according to a recent report from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

“Flu season has started and it’s coming out with a bang,” Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases specialist at Toronto General Hospital, told Global News.

Though influenza cases happen on a yearly basis, according to Bogoch, this flu season is emerging faster than most.

Despite the first two years of the COVID pandemic, where influenza activity remained low, the percentage of tests that are currently positive for flu are “much greater” than what is normally expected, Bogoch said.

Next week, if influenza levels remain this high, or anywhere over the 5.0 per cent threshold, PHAC plans to announce a nation-wide epidemic, the agency said in their most recent flu report. Between Oct. 16 and Oct. 29, 1,508 laboratory detections of the flu were reported.

Provinces including Ontario and New Brunswick have recently reported localized influenza activity in four regions. Additionally, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta have all also reported sporadic activity in 20 regions.

At this time in 2016, influenza activity sat at inter-seasonal levels with the majority of Canadian regions reporting low or no influenza activity. In 2017 at this time, it remained below the seasonal threshold.