Ontario ERs hit hard by intense flu season

Many emergency rooms across Ontario have been feeling the strain of what’s been described as an intense flu season.

Niagara Health is reporting hospitals in that region are seeing an alarming spike in flu cases, with a growing number of patients requiring hospitalization – including several in intensive care.

Toronto emergency room doctor Kashif Pirzada is seeing a similar stream of patients, adding many are waiting in ambulances for hours to be admitted.

“It was building up about a month ago, but now it’s absolutely everywhere. Nearly every PCR test I send is positive for flu,” Pirzada tells CityNews.

“The flu is like getting hit by a truck. You have body aches, fatigue, and high fevers, lasting a week almost. And many children and elderly especially need fluids or oxygen to recover and they usually need a few days in hospitals to do that and that’s what’s filling up our hospitals right now.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada reports flu activity is “widespread” in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec and cases are expected to rise, while COVID-19 and RSV infections are decreasing.

This year’s flu season got off to a late start, something we haven’t seen since pre-pandemic times, and because of this some health experts say vaccine immunity from flu shots may be waning.

“We only really get the best protection from symptomatic infection for about three months. So when the flu season is a lot later than when we actually got vaccinated, that can mean that people, their vulnerability to becoming infected increases,” says Dawn Bowdish, a professor of medicine at McMaster University.

Bowdish says the most vulnerable people right now are the elderly, the very young, pregnant people and those with underlying health conditions, adding it is “absolutely worth it” to get a flu shot now.

“The best time to get a vaccination is right at the beginning of a wave because then you have that maximum protection right when you’re most likely to get sick.”

If you are experiencing dehydration, extreme lethargy, fatigue, and rapid breathing, health experts say those are symptoms that could require a visit to the emergency room. Normally influenza activity would have peaked by now but this year that may not happen for a few more weeks.