The federal government is reporting a sharp rise in influenza in recent months, at a time of the year when detected cases generally start to fall in Canada.
The government’s latest FluWatch report says 2,121 laboratory detections of influenza, including 2,113 for influenza A and eight for influenza B, were reported during the week of May 8-14, most involving individuals under 45.
“The number of detections and the weekly percentage of tests positive for influenza have sharply increased since the beginning of April,” the report says.
“This increasing trend in laboratory detections is unusual because laboratory detections are typically decreasing at this time of year.”
TOTAL DETECTIONS BELOW PRE-PANDEMIC AVERAGE
Although a total of 8,998 influenza detections have been reported so far this season, between Aug. 29, 2021, and May 14, 2022, nearly all for influenza A, it is still lower than the pre-pandemic average of 46,070 generally seen by this point in the season.
However, the percentage of positive influenza tests in the most recent reporting week is above expected pre-pandemic levels at 12.6 per cent compared to between five and 11.9 per cent.
The number of tests performed that week also is above the pre-pandemic average at 16,618 compared to 4,311.
Researchers have found that pandemic measures, put in place with the aim of slowing the spread of COVID-19, have helped stem cases of influenza.
“So our reduced contact rates may have interrupted transmission of other infectious diseases such as influenza,” Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said during a news conference on Friday.
“When most population public-health measures, like closures and capacity limits were removed, we saw COVID-19 transmission rates rebound and now we’re seeing influenza activity increasing up to the seasonal threshold, despite the opposite trend being expected at this time of the year.”
The influenza report says influenza-like illness (ILI) made up 1.8 per cent of all visits to health-care professionals during the last reporting week, exceeding pre-pandemic levels typically seen at that point in the year.
However, the report says ILI symptoms are not specific to any respiratory pathogen and could be due to influenza, SARS-CoV-2 or the virus that causes COVID-19, or other respiratory viruses.
“This indicator should be interpreted with caution as there have been changes in health-care seeking behaviour of individuals and a smaller number of sentinels reporting compared to previous seasons,” the report says.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
During the last reporting week, there were 56 influenza-associated hospitalizations and three intensive care unit admissions as reported by nine participating provinces and territories.
Over the same week, 26 hospitalizations were reported in those 16 and under.
Influenza-associated pediatric hospitalizations are also rising, with a total of 152 reported, 64 per cent involving children under five. Seventeen pediatric intensive care unit admissions also have been reported.
So far this season, there have been 322 influenza-associated hospitalizations. The largest proportion, 39 per cent, were in adults 65 and older. There have been 28 intensive care unit admissions.
OUTBREAKS
In the last reporting week, there were five laboratory-confirmed influenza outbreaks, including two in long-term care facilities, two in facilities classified as “other,” which may include private personal care homes, correctional facilities, and colleges or universities, and one outbreak in an acute care facility.
A total of 39 outbreaks have been reported so far this season, including 18 in long-term care, 15 in “other” facilities, three in remote or isolated communities, and three in acute care facilities.
Among outbreaks of influenza-like illness, three were reported in schools during the last reporting week and a total of 86 have been reported this season, all but one of which were in schools or daycares.
The report stresses that ILI outbreaks can be due to influenza or other respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.
“Many respiratory viruses in addition to the flu commonly circulate during the fall and winter, and can cause clusters of cases with respiratory illness which could be captured as ILI,” the report says.
VACCINATION
Vaccine coverage for the flu this season appears to be similar to the 2020-21 season, with 30 per cent of adults between 18 and 64 years old reporting having received the influenza vaccine. This includes 27 per cent coverage among those without chronic medical conditions and 38 per cent in those with chronic medical conditions.
Seventy-one per cent of seniors 65 and older received the vaccine.
Earlier this year, CanAge, Canada’s National Seniors’ Advocacy Organization, gave the country a D- grade for its adult vaccination efforts during 2021 for non-COVID-19 preventable illnesses such as the flu and shingles. Many provinces also were lacking.
With files from CTVNews.ca writers Brooklyn Neustaeter, Tom Yun and Alexandra Mae Jones.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.
Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission.
The FCC is an independent agency that is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he doesn’t like.
Carr has of late embraced Trump’s ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Trump has claimed he doesn’t know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.
Carr said in a statement congratulating Trump on his win that he believed “the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.”
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Trump said in a statement on Sunday. “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”
The five-person commission has a 3-2 Democratic majority until next year, when Trump gets to appoint a new member.
Also a prolific writer of op-eds, Carr wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last month decrying an FCC decision to revoke a federal award for Elon Musk’s satellite service, Starlink. He said the move couldn’t be explained “by any objective application of the facts, the law or sound policy.”
“In my view, it amounted to nothing more than regulatory lawfare against one of the left’s top targets: Mr. Musk,” Carr wrote.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending his embattled carbon-pricing program on the world stage, and he argues that misinformation is threatening environmental progress. He spoke at a conference held by the anti-poverty group Global Citizen, ahead of the G20 leaders summit in Brazil, and said fighting climate change is not in conflict with affordability. (Nov. 17, 2024)
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Shortly after sunset on Saturday, Rabbi Chaim Zippel clasped an overflowing cup of wine and a tin of smelling spices as he marked the end of the Sabbath with a small Jewish congregation at his home near Provo, which doubles as the county’s only synagogue.
The conclusion of the ceremony known as Havdalah set off a mad dash to change into blue and white fan gear and drive to the football stadium at nearby Brigham Young University, the Utah private school run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Zippel never expected to become a BYU fan, or even a football follower, but that changed when the school where 98.5% of students belong to the faith known widely as the Mormon church added its first Jewish quarterback to the roster.
Retzlaff has earned a hero’s embrace by rabbis and others in Provo’s tiny but tight-knit Jewish community while also becoming a favorite of the broader BYU fan base that lovingly calls him the “BYJew.”
One of just three Jewish students in a student body of 35,000, the quarterback and team co-captain who worked his way into the starting lineup has used his newfound stardom to teach others about his own faith while taking steps to learn more about Judaism for himself.
“I came here thinking I might not fit in with the culture, so this will be a place where I can just focus on school and football,” Retzlaff told The Associated Press. “But I found that, in a way, I do fit. People are curious. And when everybody around you is so faith-oriented, it makes you want to explore your faith more.”
The junior college transfer from Corona, California, formed a fast friendship with the Utah rabbi when he came to BYU in 2023. The two began studying Judaism fundamentals each week in the campus library, which would help Retzlaff speak confidently about his faith in public and in his many required religion classes.
BYU undergraduates must take classes about the Book of Mormon, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the faith’s core belief that families can be together forever if marriages are performed in temples. Retzlaff said he was surprised to find many references to the Jewish people in the Book of Mormon. Some classmates and fans have even called him “the chosen one,” referring to both his success on the field and a Latter-day Saint belief that members of the Jewish faith are God’s chosen people.
“It’s a lot of respect, honestly. They’re putting me on a mantel sometimes, and I’m like, ‘Whoa guys, I don’t know about that,'” he said with a laugh.
Retzlaff, 21, has embraced becoming an ambassador for his faith in college football and in a state where only 0.2% of residents are Jewish. The redshirt junior wears a silver Star of David necklace on campus and attends dinners on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, at the rabbi’s house during the offseason.
He led Utah County’s first public Hanukkah menorah lighting last year at Provo’s historic courthouse, brought a kosher food truck to a team weight training and wrapped tefillin with Zippel in the BYU stadium. The tefillin ritual performed by Jewish men involves strapping black boxes containing Torah verses to the arm and forehead as a way of connecting to God.
“I told Jake, I said, after doing this here, after connecting to God on your terms inside the stadium, no amount of pressure will ever get to you,” Zippel said. “I think there’s no greater example of finding your corner of the world where you’re supposed to make your impact and making that impact.”
Retzlaff is affiliated with the Reform denomination of Judaism, which melds Jewish tradition with modern sensibilities, often prioritizing altruistic values and personal choice over a strict interpretation of Jewish law. He plays football on Friday nights and Saturdays during Shabbat and says sports have become a way to connect with his faith and to inspire young Jewish athletes.
Among them is Hunter Smith, a 14-year-old high school quarterback from Chicago who flew to Utah with his dad, brother and a group of Jewish friends to watch Retzlaff play. The brothers sported Retzlaff’s No. 12 jerseys, and their father Cameron wore a “BYJew” T-shirt depicting Retzlaff emerging from a Star of David, the most recognizable symbol of the faith.
“Being the only Jewish quarterback in my area that I know of, I feel like I get to pave my own path in a way,” Smith said during Saturday’s game. “Jake’s the only Jewish quarterback in college football, so he’s someone I can relate to and is like a role model for me, someone I can really look up to.”
When Retzlaff lit Provo’s giant menorah last December, Zippel said he was touched to hear the quarterback speak about the importance of his visibility at a time when some Jewish students didn’t feel safe expressing their religious identity on their own campuses amid heightened antisemitism in the United States.
His presence has been especially impactful for BYU alumna Malka Moya, 30, who had struggled to navigate her intersecting identities on the campus as someone who is both Jewish and a Latter-day Saint.
“Jake feels very comfortable wearing his Star of David all the time,” said Moya, who lives near Provo. “I haven’t always been very comfortable with expressing my Jewish identity. But, more recently, I feel like if he can do it, I can do it.”
