FLU FIGHTERS: CANADIANS REPORT LOW RATES SO FAR

Eight cases this season despite increase in tests

There are early signs that Canada may be experiencing one of the few silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite double the usual volume of laboratory screening for influenza, the number of people testing positive for the virus is “exceptionally” low so far this season, says a Public Health Agency of Canada report.

In fact, only eight positive tests came back in the most recent week of reporting from across the country, and half may have merely been signs of flu vaccination, not actual spread of the virus, says the agency's latest “FluWatch” report.

Just 12 flu cases were reported between March and October, compared to an average of almost 600 in each of the last six years during the same period.

Southern hemisphere countries like Australia, which have their flu season during the northern hemisphere's summer, reported unusually little influenza in 2020. Experts suggest that masks, social distancing and more hand-washing designed to combat COVID-19 had curbed the other virus, too.

Canada's season is just starting. But if it enjoyed the same kind of flu respite, it would alleviate fears of a double whammy of COVID19's second wave, on top of the regular influenza burden.

It's too early to tell yet from the numbers here if we'll escape such a “twindemic,” but Australia's experience is a good sign, said Dr. Jeff Kwong, a public health professor at the University of Toronto.

“That's encouraging,” he said. “COVID is more contagious than influenza, so if we can manage to control COVID, we should be able to control influenza activity.”

But that does not mean that Canadians should eschew the flu vaccine, said Kwong, especially since this country is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. If the coronavirus is transmitting broadly, then other respiratory viruses will also spread, he noted. “There's l i ttle downside to getting (a flu shot), so one more layer of protection is helpful.”

A reduced flu season would also not mean that COVID had simply replaced it on an equal basis; with rates of death and severe illness estimated to be several times higher, the coronavirus is a much more serious threat, said Kwong.

FluWatch is a weekly report that primarily uses a network of labs, hospitals and health practitioners to track laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu. A much larger number actually contract the virus but never gets tested. The report also uses a group of “FluWatchers” who report their own respiratory-infection symptoms.

According to the report for the week that ended Oct.

THERE'S LITTLE DOWNSIDE TO GETTING (A FLU SHOT), SO ONE MORE

LAYER OF PROTECTION IS

HELPFUL.

31, only one of the 40 or so regions it designates across the country was reporting any flu — those eight cases — and there were no outbreaks.

By contrast, the report on the same week in 2019 reported 107 lab-confirmed cases — more than 10 times as many — in 24 regions of 10 provinces and territories.

That was despite 9,033 flu tests being administered during the 2020 week — more than twice the average. The percentage of positive tests was .07 per cent, compared to an average of 3.7 per cent during the previous six seasons — a 52-times difference.

And four of the most recent cases were linked to people receiving a flu shot, which contains an “attenuated” or weakened version of the actual virus. Such “live attenuated influenza vaccine” can be detected with a nasal swab, said the report. “Despite elevated levels of testing, the percentage of laboratory tests positive for influenza has remained at exceptionally low levels throughout the period of March to October.”

The numbers could have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, including “changes in health care-seeking behaviour, impacts of public health measures and influenza testing capacity,” it said. In fact, last flu season ended “abruptly” in March as lockdowns to contain COVID-19 went into effect.