We've seen a resurgence of respiratory viruses this winter, but the worst of the season should now be behind us.
Dr. Peter Benoit is a public health doctor who is currently providing coverage for Southern Health. He says a number of illnesses are currently circulating southern Manitoba.
“We get reports and data coming in weekly on various respiratory viruses and there are various different ones that could cause illness. Often times they could be quite similar, people think it is a common cold, the sore throat, the runny nose, the coughing, that sort of stuff.”
This surge in sickness has been felt in all age groups and has been especially noticeable in schools.
Fortunately, Dr. Benoit says the number of people seeking medical attention as a result of respiratory viruses has started to come down.
“We saw them increase and peak over the last few months over that cold and flu season and a lot of those numbers are coming down which is the good news. That is often what we see moving into things warming up and moving into the summer. Even so, the activity is not down to zero.”
Dr. Benoit says all of the measures we took to control COVID also kept transmission low on common respiratory viruses. He notes this winter hasn't necessarily been worse than a normal pre-pandemic year, but it has felt like it.
“When we look at the data in terms of the total numbers, I wouldn't say that there is strong data to support that we have had a massive increase in the amount of illness going around but it seems like it, it feels like it for people because we had this period where there was less illness for some of these common bugs that go around during our standard cold and flu season.”
Going forward, Dr. Benoit says we should expect respiratory virus transmission to continue going down as we head into late spring and early summer. That said, considering we are still dealing with unique, post-restriction conditions, there are some unknowns that could come into play.
In the meantime, he recommends visiting Shared Health’s patient care page for help dealing with your child’s illness.
“They list the symptoms to watch for, how to provide care at home, when to consider going to get seen, things like when your kid is not able to drink, not staying hydrated, not having wet diapers, those key things to watch fo. I think that is a really helpful resource for parents especially when we have this seeming resurgence of infectious diseases.”
Meanwhile, the Hanover School Division also has a page to guide parents when their children get sick.