Family got the flu? You’re not the only ones in Yellowknife suffering

Reports had suggested this would be a bad flu season. Judging by the past week in Yellowknife, that’s the case.

While there are no precise figures, Cabin Radio spoke with more than 50 Yellowknife residents – including teachers and doctors – and the verdict is near-universal: this has been a rough few days.

There is no easy access to up-to-the-minute statistics in situations like this, especially given not everyone will see healthcare workers or get tested. That means it’s hard to be sure if Covid-19, influenza or another virus like RSV is at work – or all three.

Influenza A was identified by several healthcare workers as a likely candidate for at least some Yellowknifers’ illnesses. Wastewater testing in Yellowknife earlier this month reported a moderate load of influenza A virus and a high load of Covid-19.

Whether this season is any worse than usual is a matter of perspective. Many parents and teachers told us this week felt worse than others they could remember, but not everyone shared that view.

For example, Yellowknife Catholic Schools superintendent Adam Murray told Cabin Radio on Thursday: “Our absenteeism rates at this time of year seem fairly normal.”

YCS has three schools in the city. At one, Murray said around 30 children were sick this week, and 70 students were ill at another.

His message? Make sure kids take hygiene seriously, wash their hands, and take time to get better if they’re sick – don’t come to school.

“Stay home, recover and, if that’s the case, know that the teacher will help you get caught up when you get back to school,” Murray said.

Why might this season be worse?

One factor expected to affect this flu season is the mutation of a strain known as H3N2.

(Flu names are H-something-N-something, like H1N1 or H5N1, because the H and N refer to types of protein – hemagglutinin and neuraminidase – that help decide how each strain works.)

This summer, H3N2 mutated in an abrupt fashion that scientists who study flu say will help it evade the immunity most people have.

Flu viruses are always mutating. This one caught the eye of researchers because the shift was larger than usual.

“There are indicators that this could be worse than some of the flu seasons we’ve seen in the last 10 years,” Prof Christophe Fraser, from the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, told the BBC this month.

Approached for comment on Wednesday, the NWT’s Department of Health and Social Services hadn’t provided a response by Thursday afternoon.

Yellowknife’s other school districts couldn’t be reached for comment by the time of publication, though staff at multiple schools described their surprise at the number of students – and colleagues – out sick in recent days.

Two parents said they had been present at a meeting earlier in the week at which the principal of Sir John Franklin High School said as many as 200 children at the school were ill.

“So many kids are sick,” a teacher in the Yellowknife Catholic Schools system said. “We had a ton of staff out on Monday, too.”

A teacher in the YK1 system said: “Some classes at school that usually have roughly 20 students have been down to eight or nine. There are lots of staff out sick as well. One day that I was out, the vice-principal said there were 14 others.

“I’ve never felt or seen it this bad before. Usually people get sick for maybe a week but whatever this is, it’s just hanging on forever.”

More than a dozen families described circumstances to Cabin Radio in which kids said their classes were down to less than 10 attendees. Sports like hockey have had practices affected and arts groups reported a similar issue.

At Yellowknife’s hospital, several members of staff said they had been struck by the increase in the number of patients presenting with flu or flu-like symptoms.

Vaccination clinics still running

While that alone doesn’t make this fall worse than others, one teacher in the Yellowknife Catholic Schools system felt the timing was a key factor: illness seemed to strike a lot of people at almost the same time.

“This one seems to have hit everyone all at once,” they wrote. “Normally we’d have a few out here and there, for a longer period of time, but this seems like everyone got it the same day.”

Some parents pointed to last week’s Challenge Cup high school hockey game – which unites hundreds of children from two school systems in the same building – as a potential superspreader event.

While that’s possible, there’s no firm evidence to back that up and health officials have not yet made that connection. It’s also far from the only event at which Yellowknifers have been mingling.

The calendar is packed with holiday craft markets, while the Yellowknife Geoscience Forum just wrapped up, featuring around 700 delegates spread across two hotels for three days of mining and exploration discussion.

Small wonder that the NWT’s health authority posted a reminder this week about its flu and Covid-19 vaccination clinics.

Drop-in clinics at Yellowknife Public Health – 4702 50 Avenue – take place from 11am till 4pm on Wednesdays and 1-4pm on Fridays throughout December until the end of Friday, December 19. Information for other communities is available on the health authority’s website. (This is a change from the dates and times we initially published. The clinic times were revised on Friday after this article came out.)

Earlier this month, the authority reported “strong uptake” for both shots but numbers were not given.

More broadly, vaccination rates in the territory have been dropping year on year.

In March, health minister Lesa Semmler said the NWT’s overall flu vaccination rate had fallen to just 18 percent of residents.

“Some are rejecting evidence-based science and falling for fear-driven messaging that puts lives at risk,” she said, referring to misinformation about the safety of vaccines.

“We must push back against false claims with clear, fact-based communication that empowers people to make the best choice for their health.”

Aastha Sethi contributed reporting.