'Unusual' flu season sees jump in cases in May from lifting of COVID-19 measures
CBC
New Brunswick is dealing with an unusually late flu season, due in part to the lifting of COVID-19 protective measures in March, such as masking, says the province's acting deputy chief medical officer of health.
Normally, the flu season really starts to "take off" in January and "peters out" once the warmer weather begins, said Dr. Yves Léger.
But nearly half of this season's cases have occurred this month, new statistics released by Public Health show.
There were 18 cases of influenza reported during Week 18, which was May 1 to 7, the most recent statistics available.
A total of 40 cases have been documented so far this season, which began Aug. 29, 2021 and continues until Aug. 27.
"So to have it start now is a bit, you know, unusual, from the trend that we've seen before, but would be explained by the lifting of the measures," said Léger.
"Since most provinces have lifted their [COVID-19] measures in the spring, we have started to see a resurgence of influenza across the country, and we're starting to see that in some of our surveillance here."
During the 2020-21 season, only one flu case was reported across New Brunswick.
By comparison, in 2019-20, at the beginning of the pandemic, there were 2,351 cases provincewide. In 2018-19, 3,008. And in 2017-18, 2,721.
The numbers are all likely unreported, noted Léger. Although influenza is a reportable disease in New Brunswick, not everyone who gets sick would necessarily go to the doctor and get tested, he said.
"But it still gives us an idea of how the infection is spreading in our communities and how that's trending."
There was once speculation that COVID-19 and flu could create what some dubbed a "twindemic," with both types of infections hitting countries at once, but those fears haven't materialized.
Instead, some medical experts say there could be some level of "viral interference," in which a virus such as SARS-CoV-2 pushes out other pathogens at a population level for a period of time.
Last week, Premier Blaine Higgs remarked to reporters that "kids seem to be more vulnerable to the normal viruses and flus and bugs than they were pre-COVID.