Public well being measures meant to curb the unfold of COVID-19 are having a welcome aspect impact in Alberta: they’ve made it almost inconceivable for seasonal influenza to flow into.
Alberta hasn’t detected a single lab-confirmed case of influenza in all the province this season, Chief Medical Officer of Well being Dr. Deena Hinshaw mentioned at her Thursday information convention.
“This can be a testomony to the arduous work and sacrifices of so many,” she mentioned. “Public well being measures have really stopped seasonal influenza in its tracks.”
This time final 12 months, Alberta’s labs had confirmed 470 circumstances of seasonal flu. This 12 months they’ve discovered zero, regardless of a 300% enhance in testing.
“It underscores the distinction between these two viruses, and the way harmful COVID-19 really is,” Hinshaw mentioned.
In simply 11 months, COVID-19 has taken extra lives than 10 years of influenza infections in Alberta. In lower than a 12 months, 5 occasions extra folks have been admitted to hospital for COVID-19 than final 12 months’s flu season.
“COVID-19 is in contrast to any virus now we have confronted in 100 years,” Hinshaw mentioned, urging Albertans to maintain following public well being measures.
