Respiratory illness season hits north-central B.C.

A challenging respiratory illnesses season in B.C. is also making an impact on the north. 

This week, Health Minister Adrian Dix said hospitals in British Columbia are treating a record number of patients as the province's respiratory illness season nears its peak, and that the situation is challenging but being managed.

“We're definitely seeing a lot of respiratory illness across the north. Mostly influenza A, RSV, and COVID are the main respiratory viruses that we're seeing right now,” said Dr. Rakel Kling, medical health officer for the Northern Interior.

She said she doesn’t have specific statistics on cases in the north because not everyone who gets sick gets tested.

“We do know that, it's definitely a significant concern and absolutely causing a burden on our healthcare system and it's just a really good point to remind everyone what they can do to stay safe and healthy during this respiratory season.”

She said it is not too late to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and influenza for the season, and other important precautions to take are staying home when sick to avoid passing germs, and washing your hands frequently.

“Earlier in the season, like October, November, December, it was definitely COVID that dominated most of the illness we were seeing in the north but that changed a few weeks ago to really show that influenza A was really taking over and increasing rapidly,” explained Kling.

“Both are kind of plateauing right now, but there are some signs that it might be increasing again post holiday season, but now we're also seeing some cases of RSV in the north as well,” she said.

During a Jan. 10 press conference Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said cases of influenza A and respiratory syncytial virus are high across B.C. and are expected to peak in the next week or so.

COVID-19 cases are also showing signs of increasing in recent weeks with 219 people in hospital and 26 people in intensive care but "almost all" people in B.C. have some degree of immunity, due to infection or vaccination. 

Henry said recent preliminary data indicate 83 per cent of people in B.C. have had COVID-19, although many may not have noticed because they were vaccinated and had mild cases.

Henry said the respiratory illness season appears to be returning to patterns similar to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have COVID-19 in the mix now, but what we're seeing is much more usual patterns compared to what we saw last year where we saw influenza, COVID-19 and RSV peaking very early in November and going off at the end of the year," she said.

- with files from the Canadian Press