Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK

Flu season has yet to hit B.C. with the force it’s hammering Ontario and Quebec but Kelowna General Hospital has reached its capacity in its neo-natal intensive care unit.

In Ontario, extra paediatric wards have been set up and some non-emergency surgeries have been postponed due to a flood of patients suffering from flu and other respiratory illnesses.

“The situation in Ontario right now is more serious compared to B.C.,” the B.C. Ministry of Health said in an email to iNFOnews.ca.

“Even though we are seeing more respiratory illness circulating, we are not yet experiencing a COVID-19/influenza/RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) surge in hospitalizations, which necessitates activating provincial surge plans that include postponing non-urgent scheduled surgeries and moving patients to free up hospital beds.”

Many of the non-COVID patients are young children.

“As of Nov. 14, the current occupancy rate for children’s high-acuity and paediatric ICU beds in the province is approximately 76.2%,” the ministry said. “The current occupancy rate for neo-natal ICU beds in the province is approximately 68.5%. The only neo-natal ICU over capacity is at Kelowna General Hospital.”

The ministry points out some of these units are quite small so it doesn’t take much to reach capacity but it did not say how many beds there are in Kelowna.

There have only been 30 hospitalizations for flu and other respiratory illnesses in the Interior Health region since Sept. 1, according to an emailed statement from Interior Health.

"We currently have five outbreaks in long-term care and, as the season progresses, we’ll typically see more," Interior Health said.

About half the hospitalizations in the region have been for the flu, which are mostly people over the age of 60. The other half have been mostly children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Ontario and Quebec are strongly recommending people start wearing masks again in indoor public settings and have warned that mask mandates may be needed.

READ MORE: Ontario's top doctor 'strongly' recommends masks, warns mandate on table

“With regards to public health measures, we are not looking at reintroducing mask mandates at this time," the Ministry of Health statement said. "If you have symptoms, but it is essential to be in close contact with others, preventative measures such as masking in indoor spaces, washing hands and respiratory etiquette can reduce the risk of respiratory illness transmission."

At this point, the infection rate lags behind this time last year and is far below last winter’s peak.

As of Oct. 30 this year, there were 441 respiratory illness cases reported in B.C., which does not include COVID cases, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control website. By comparison, there were 613 such cases in B.C. in 2021.

The peak in 2021 was Dec. 19 with 1,502 non-COVID respiratory diseases.

This year, there were 581 COVID cases recorded at the end of October compared to 3,673 in 2021. The peak for COVID cases last winter was 23,336 on Jan. 2.

After COVID, the most common ailments are influenza (flu) followed by ERV (Enterovirus) and RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus).

Enterovirus is usually a mild illness that can include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, skin rash, mouth blisters, and body and muscle aches.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus is also usually mild but can be serious in infants and older adults. It is a major cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

Children are most likely to suffer ill effects from these non-COVID infections.

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“Most healthy children will fight respiratory infections with rest and good hydration without needing to go to a hospital or see a doctor,” the centre for disease control said. “Treatment including antibiotics are not needed for most respiratory infections and children will usually recover on their own at home within a few days.”

Children’s acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) or ibuprofen (such as Advil) can help bring down a fever but those are in short supply in Canada.

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