Flu season calls for added vigilance

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This article was published 09/11/2020 (2158 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The forecast for this winter is dark and gloomy.

As the weather gets colder, you’ll be spending more time indoors. The common cold, the flu and other contagious illnesses will complicate the picture, so now might be a good time to get your mind and body ready to hunker down.

The physical elements of winter make viruses more difficult to escape. And this year, there’s added concern. As the colder temperatures push people inside, COVID-19 will have extra opportunities to travel from host to host.

And to top it off, we’ve all got pandemic fatigue — the rising sense of apathy and impatience from the daily preventative measures we’ve got to take.

To prepare for COVID-19 this winter, keep focusing on the essentials you can control — distancing, masking and hygiene, says Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor and Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba.

“While we’re certainly all exhausted from hearing about this over and over, it’s so critically important to try to get back to where we were in the summer,” he says. “We’ve learned quite a bit in the 10 months since SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, first emerged.”

Kindrachuk is in Saskatoon for the next several months helping lead COVID-19 research efforts as part of a university partnership.

Typically, viruses survive longer in cooler temperatures and at low humidity. Does COVID-19 survive better in cold air? That’s up for debate.

“In our regular everyday environments, there are many variables that we have to account for beyond temperature and humidity — surface type, sunlight, temperature fluctuations, wind and cleanliness of surface,” Kindrachuk says. “Our focus should be on the protections we can control through our own actions.”

Since our Manitoba winter will ultimately drive everyone inside, it’s important to understand there are things you can do to help yourself.

“What we understand now is that certain situations increase the potential for transmission, namely enclosed spaces with low ventilation,” he says. “This is important for us to consider, as winter is certainly different in Manitoba compared to most other places on the planet.”

Kidrachuk says we’re in a situation where we have to continue to reduce our time spent in enclosed areas with people outside our normal bubbles, such as family and work.

Winter weather also wears on our body’s defence mechanisms. When we’re more sedentary, our immune systems have a tendency to become less vigilant.

“Colder weather changes our behavioural patterns, like increased frequency of spending time indoors, which also increases the frequency with which we encounter microbes, including viruses,” Kindrachuk says.

We’re just 10 months into the pandemic and the emergence of a new virus, Kindrachuk says. While it seems like forever to many of us, this time frame is tiny from a research standpoint.

“We’ve been working on many viruses for a decade or more and don’t know all of the intricacies of how they work,” he says. “Our experience with COVID in early 2020 was different, as much of the province shut down quite early. We’re in a much different situation now.”

So, will combatting COVID in the winter be more challenging than summer?

Many experts agree it’s too early to predict exactly how different seasons will affect the virus. Human behaviours, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, are still the most important driver of the pandemic.

“We don’t have any clear answer on seasonality for this virus, since we’ve only been introduced to it recently and this is our first full winter season with COVID,” Kindrachuk says. “The most straightforward answer is to treat COVID with the same concern regardless of what season it is.”

We’re entering a flu season unlike any other. The prospect of seasonal influenza overlapping with COVID-19 has become a genuine possibility and concern, as the flu often overwhelms hospitals with patients.

The risk of these two viruses colliding means the government needs to prepare for a difficult winter.

On a systemic level, more flu shots administered will prevent more cases of the flu, reducing the strain those cases would then pile on the health system.

Will the flu shot protect you from COVID-19? No. But it’s important to protect yourself from influenza for several reasons.

“Given the current concerns regarding health-care capacity in Winnipeg with the resurgence of COVID, this should be the year that we absolutely do whatever we can to reduce the burden on our health-care workers and facilities so that they can be focused on the unpredictability of COVID,” Kindrachuk says. “Get your flu shot for you, for your family and for those in your community.”

According to a recent study from the University of British Columbia, the pandemic may be motivating more parents to take their kids for a flu shot.

The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, surveyed 3,000 families from Canada, the United States, Spain, Israel, Japan and Switzerland. Researchers found that 54 per cent of parents planned to vaccinate their children — up 16 per cent from the previous year.

So, how will normal respiratory illnesses, such as influenza viruses, affect the pandemic?

“There has been some data from the laboratory that suggests co-infections with influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 can lead to increased severity of illness,” Kindrachuk says. “Influenza season tends to peak between December and February so this is the time when we’ll need to be most vigilant as influenza puts a lot of people in the hospital across Canada each year.”

During the 2018-19 flu season, 42 per cent of Canadian adults got the flu shot compared to 38 per cent the year before, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. The number was much higher — 70 per cent — among seniors 65 years and older.

Our mental health may also suffer as winter approaches. Symptoms of depression tend to run high during short, dark days and social isolation can lead to feelings of sadness or anxiety. Now, these symptoms of vulnerability are accompanied by restrictions to social life, as well as concerns about health and economic security, leaving many of us feeling helpless.

“(People are) not alone, as everyone in our communities is battling with these factors to some extent and that should be expected,” Kindrachuk says. “We have to be supportive and understanding of the myriad of different emotions people are having with the pandemic.”

To battle this virus, we have to accept that things are not going to be the same this season — no extended family gatherings, no tropical getaways and no holiday parties full of festive cheer.

But it’s important that people get the distanced social interaction they need to manage their mental health. Complete isolation, especially in a stressful situation like a pandemic, could be damaging. Humans need connection. so try and come up with safe ways to connect with loved ones, such as over Zoom or meeting outside, while physically distanced and wearing masks.

In the end, it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially this year. As the weather gets chillier, remember that keeping your distance from others is crucial. Wear a mask, wash your hands, stay as far apart from people as possible and get your flu shot.

“We don’t know what we’ll face in the coming months and certainly the current situation is at the forefront of all of our minds right now,” he says. “We hold the outcome of winter and COVID in our hands.”

Sabrina Carnevale

sabrinacarnevale@gmail.com

@SabrinaCsays