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home / 世界杯决赛2022

local officials bracing for worst flu season in five years

local health officials are gearing up for the worst flu...

by trevor wilhelm

sep 8 2022
read time 1 minute read
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dr. wassim saad, chief of staff at windsor regional hospital, speaks during a news conference in this file photo from march 18, 2020. dax melmer / windsor star
local health officials are gearing up for the worst flu season in years, a “scary prospect” that could put even more strain on an already overloaded system.
dr. wassim saad, chief of staff at windsor regional hospital, said provincial projections show that by early 2023, there will be more patients requiring hospitalization than there are hospital beds in ontario.
“all indications are that it’s going to be a rough flu season,” said saad, who detailed the projections during thursday’s hospital board meeting.
“we’re expecting this to be the worst influenza season we’ve had in over five years. that’s based on what they’re experiencing in the southern hemisphere.”
health care professionals north of the equator can generally predict the severity of their flu season based on what happens down under.
over the last couple of years, during widespread covid-19 lockdowns, australia had very few influenza cases. the same situation followed in north america. but this year, australia had one of its worst flu seasons in 10 years.
“the flu season in australia is generally from may to october,” said saad. “what they found this year in early july was the cases started to spike. and they had a very upward trajectory, to the point that in early july they had nearly five times the influenza cases that they’ve had in any other year preceding that for almost a decade. that was just the beginning of the season.”
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in ontario, the flu season usually starts in october.
“i think there’s a lot of angst and anxiety, because if we follow the same pattern that we have been following for influenza as it pertains to what happens in australia, then we could potentially be in trouble starting in october,” said saad. “a lot of those are going to be outpatients. but a lot of them are going to require hospital admission. then if you factor in covid infections and other respiratory illnesses, we could be headed for a large number of patients in hospital.”
twilhelm@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarwilhelm
 
 
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trevor wilhelm
trevor wilhelm

trevor wilhelm is an award-winning multimedia journalist. he has been a reporter for more than two decades, living and working in locales ranging from winnipeg to hong kong. wilhelm has been a member of the windsor star team, chronicling the triumphs and tragedies of his adopted hometown, since 2006. his coverage has ranged from the police beat to provincial politics. for the last several years, he has focused on lengthier investigations, freedom of information probes, and in-depth feature writing. his work has highlighted social issues, exposed hidden information, and changed government policy.

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