And what about those who've been reporting flu symptoms but have tested negative for COVID? Well, like we told you, it's flu season, and as Dr Diaz pointed out, there weren't many cases in the previous two years since everyone was social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands frequently. But those health measures have mostly gone by the wayside, and there have been a number of cases of respiratory infections. However, as COVID numbers go up, those are going down.
Dr Melissa Diaz, Director, Public Health & Wellness
"There are many different viruses that can cause similar symptoms and can cause acute respiratory illnesses or acute respiratory infection. And in the latter part of November, we had seen an increase in that but there has been a slight switch over and we've seen a reduction actually in acute respiratory illnesses due to other causes than COVID and we're now seeing an increase in COVID. So we do know that it's flu season, we know that the weather has changed, we know that we're congregating more and we've had two years plus without really associating without even the influenza virus being transmitted and so we're seeing that as well and people have described what they call the flu so a bad flu could be from COVID but it could also be from other respiratory viruses like influenza, like adenovirus, like enterovirus, these viruses can cause a varied degree of symptoms, so some people might have runny nose, mild body aches, and some people might be in bed for a few days and for that reason, no matter if it's COVID or not, public health measures help to prevent the transmission of certain viruses so we always recommend those, hand washing, keeping your hand sanitizer at your desk and of course if you work in an office with a lot of people and you're ill, make sure that you keep your mask on, make sure that you get tested as well or if you need to avoid these persons and work in a separate area that is also recommended."
