Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry speaks in the press theatre at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on March 10.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging parents to get their children vaccinated against the flu, as provincial governments across the country scramble to deal with hospitals overflowing with sick children.
Hospitalizations of children with flu have skyrocketed across the country, with more children admitted with influenza than at any other time in at least a decade, according to surveillance data.
Mr. Trudeau said Monday he is alarmed about the rise in respiratory illnesses, and called on Canadians to “step up again” to get vaccinated against both COVID-19 and the flu to keep their families and communities safe.
“I’m extremely worried about what Canadian kids are facing right now. Families are really worried about whether they are going to be able to get their kids to hospital,” he told reporters at an unrelated news conference.
Flu surges on heels of RSV, COVID-19 to overwhelm children’s hospitals in Canada
British Columbia is heading to a record year for flu vaccines, but a push to protect seniors has left the most vulnerable group – children under the age of 5 – behind. This weekend, public-health officials are launching an influenza vaccination blitz for young children who are most at-risk of severe illness.
More than half of B.C.’s seniors have been vaccinated for the flu this year, but only 20 per cent of children between the ages of six months and 4 years have had a flu shot. With the holiday season approaching, health officials are hoping to boost that rate in the coming week.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, told a news conference on Monday that the annual flu season arrived early, in mid-November. At that time, BC Children’s Hospital was already cancelling dozens of surgeries owing to staff shortages and a surge in respiratory infections. It is influenza, not COVID-19, that is driving the patient load, and the virus has not yet peaked, according to Dr. Henry.
“We’re still early on in this trajectory of influenza. We’re starting to see the impact of a large number of children who haven’t been exposed to influenza for a few years, and a small proportion of them are getting severely ill,” she said. “But we still have time to blunt the impact.”
Pediatric emergency services at major hospitals have already been reorganized to deal with the surge in cases in the province, however, BC Children’s Hospital briefly activated a “Code Orange” alert on Saturday morning because it did not have the resources to manage demand.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix told reporters the province has taken a number of steps to mitigate the pressure, such as bringing in pediatricians to treat patients in the emergency department at Victoria General Hospital, and creating an emergency satellite clinic at BC Children’s. Starting next week, Surrey Memorial Hospital will place emergency room physicians at the Surrey Urgent and Primary Care Centre so that it can redirect some patients, and Peace Arch Hospital will offer pediatric services at its rapid care clinic.
In Ontario, the government of Premier Doug Ford faced questions on Monday over how it could have allowed a surge in patients to force one of its premiere pediatric institutions, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, to call in the Red Cross to help.
The local MPP for CHEO in the riding of Ottawa South, Liberal interim leader John Fraser, said this shows the government had failed to plan properly for the fall surge in illness.
“It is absolutely incredible to me that we’re calling in an organization that deals in humanitarian disasters to help out,” Mr. Fraser said.
In Question Period, Ontario Opposition NDP Leader Peter Tabuns said the move shows the government was caught flat-footed by the situation in children’s hospitals. Progressive Conservative MPP Robin Martin, the parliamentary assistant to the province’s Health Minister, responded by saying that bringing in the Red Cross “was certainly part of our planning to make sure we had the care we need for pediatric patients at CHEO and other pediatric hospitals.” However, Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, later said that calling in the Red Cross to help hospitals was not part of the government’s surge plan.
Mr. Ford, alongside the Prime Minister for an unrelated announcement at a GM plant in Ingersoll, Ont., praised the chief executive officer of CHEO, Alex Munter, for “thinking outside the box” in dealing with the situation at his hospital. But he did not answer a question about whether using the Red Cross was part of the government’s plans, instead listing its pledges to increase health care funding and the number of nurses.
In Alberta, 65 staff have been redeployed from the Rotary Flames House and five outpatient clinics to help with the surge in respiratory illnesses. Some medical staff have also stepped down from corporate positions to work the front lines, said Margaret Fullerton, senior operating officer of the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
At the affected clinics, Ms. Fullerton said there is a 30-to-50-per-cent reduction in services related to orthopedics, nephrology, gastrointestinal, pulmonary and surgical services. She said patients with urgent needs will continue to be prioritized in those clinics, but other appointments will be postponed.
Ms. Fullerton said there are contingency plans in place at the hospital should respiratory care needs grow, but she did not provide details. Kerry Williamson, a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services, said there are no plans at this time to bring in support from outside agencies, such as the Red Cross in Ottawa.
Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping said Monday there are indications that a spike in flu cases may subside soon but acknowledged that there are likely to be future bouts of respiratory infections in the coming months. He said the government is finding ways to move people through the system quicker, but in the long-term is focused on building capacity.