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Flu infections spiking on North Shore as B.C. hospitals hit record numbers

Respiratory virus infections could peak in the next week, says British Columbia's medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
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Hospitals across B.C. are seeing increased ER visits and hospitalizations due to a spike in respiratory viruses. | Mike Wakefield / North Shore News file

Surging rates of flu and other respiratory viruses have led to record-breaking numbers of people in hospital this week, among calls from the province’s medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry for people get vaccinated.

Amid spiking rates of respiratory viruses, the province hit a new peak of 10,435 people in hospital on Tuesday, said Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“Respiratory viruses are absolutely driving this,” said Henry, pointing to a recent surge in cases of influenza A.

Data from wastewater analysis at the Lions Gate sewage treatment plant show flu infections on the North Shore have been rising sharply since early December. COVID-19 infection levels had been relatively steady this fall, but have also recently began to increase – both on the North Shore and across the Lower Mainland.

Recent data from B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control show more than 40 per cent of recent children’s ER visits in the Vancouver Health Region were for respiratory viruses.

Recently, three children in B.C. died of complications of the flu, including one who was under five years old.

In all three cases, the children who died had developed a secondary bacterial infection, said Henry.

On the North Shore, between 29 and 30 per cent of children aged six months to 11 years old have received a flu vaccine this winter season, while between 20 and 22 per cent of that age group have received the flu vaccine in West Vancouver. Overall flu vaccine rates are hovering between 32 and 34 per cent on the North Shore according to Vancouver Coastal Health.

In December about 10 per cent of all visits to Lions Gate Hospital’s emergency department were for respiratory illnesses across all age groups, according to VCH. More of those patients have also been requiring hospital admission.

Henry said the peak of the flu surge is likely to hit in the next week.

Regarding COVID-19 infections, Henry said according to a recent study of blood serology markers carried out by the BCCDC, more than 80 per cent of people in B.C. now have some level of immunity to COVID-19, either through being previously infected or from vaccination – or a combination of both.

About one quarter of people in the province have received the updated COVID vaccine this fall. Among those over age 80, about half have received the vaccine.