British Columbia health officials are urging parents to get their children’s flu shots as the province grapples with an earlier than usual flu season, leading to long waits at major wards emergency before the holiday season.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday that British Columbia is experiencing a “dramatic increase” in cases of influenza A, a strain that can cause serious illness in children.
“I can’t stress enough how important flu shots are right now, this year in particular,” Henry said, speaking to reporters in Vancouver.
“There are more kids now who haven’t been exposed to the flu in the past two years…so more of them are getting sick now.”
Henry said the peak of flu season came two weeks earlier than usual.
Dr. Bonnie Henry explains why flu shot clinics aren’t in schools:
Dr Bonnie Henry says the highest risk group for children is usually between the ages of six months and five years.
BC Children’s Hospital has experienced unusually long wait times as respiratory illnesses spread, with parents staying 12 hours or more to have their children seen. Many children also miss school, Henry said.
The hospital briefly called a code orange at 6:35 a.m. PT Saturday. The code can be used for high casualty events, but a statement said it was used on Saturday “to intensify notification of personnel resources”.
The code was canceled this morning at 7:03
Sarah Bell, the hospital’s chief operating officer, said the emergency department is seeing high acuity in addition to volume, which means a high number of patients require attention and prolonged care from the nursing staff.
Bell said parents should only take children with respiratory illness to the emergency room if they are having trouble breathing, adding that children under three months of age who have a fever and are dehydrated with diarrhea or vomiting should also go to the emergency room.
“You probably don’t need emergency care if your child has a cough, cold, sore throat, flu, pink eye or earache,” she said.
Henry said the data showed the most common illnesses seen in children in British Columbia in November were influenza A and, to a lesser extent, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.
On Monday, she said rates of the common cold and RSV have stabilized while influenza A has become more common.
COVID-19 continues to affect older people, she said.
WATCH | Dr. Bonnie Henry explains why she was not ready in November to impose a mandatory mask:
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says there are tools other than a mask mandate to prevent the spread of respiratory disease.
Dix said at the time the province planned to cancel elective surgeries to create room in hospitals for patients, especially children, but had not yet reached that point.
“We have other steps that we don’t want to take, but that would be, for example, delaying elective surgery and then quickly catching up followingwards,” Dix told reporters at the Assembly. legislative.
“This stage is at our disposal. We haven’t done that yet. We knew it was going to be a tough season, and it is.
