Influenza now killing more Nova Scotians than COVID-19

Richard Woodbury · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 07, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 7

For the archetypal clip since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fig of Nova Scotians dying from influenza exceeds the fig of COVID deaths.

According to the province's latest respiratory ticker report, 124 Nova Scotians person died from influenza during the 2024-25 respiratory season, which runs from Aug. 25, 2024, and volition spell up until Aug. 29, 2025. There person been 108 COVID deaths truthful acold this season.

Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases doctor, said the information determination are less deaths owed to COVID than influenza isn't immoderate benignant of affirmative improvement for the wide population.

"Some radical person said, 'Oh, convey goodness, we're backmost to normal,'" she said. "And I'm like, 'Well, present we've got two viruses — not conscionable one — that are inactive successful the truly important class for hospitalizations, atrocious lungs and deaths."

Barrett said this year's planetary flu play was 1 of the worst of the past decade.

"Yes, influenza has taken implicit from COVID, but they're some higher than we'd similar them to be," she said.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's main aesculapian serviceman of health, said pandemics don't past everlastingly and COVID-19 has go endemic. He said it is not astonishing that influenza deaths person topped COVID-19 deaths.

"This is what we'd expect arsenic we instrumentality to much of a mean respiratory microorganism play with a premix of viruses," helium said.

Where COVID-19 dominated truthful overmuch treatment successful past years, different respiratory illnesses — influenza and respiratory syncytial microorganism (RSV) successful peculiar — didn't get astir arsenic overmuch attention.

"For immoderate people, we don't request to beryllium arsenic powerfully acrophobic of COVID, but we request to beryllium precise respectful and instrumentality earnestly each respiratory viruses," said Strang.

He's encouraging radical to practise the aforesaid measures that were preached during the highest days of the pandemic. That means washing hands, wearing masks wherever appropriate, staying location during an illness and getting vaccinated.

But, connected the second point, less radical are doing that.

Data provided by the state shows that portion 29 per cent of the wide colonisation got their flu shots for the 2024-25 season, it was lone 18 per cent for COVID-19.

For the erstwhile year's campaign, the percentages were 32.8 per cent and 22.8 per cent, respectively.

"These vaccines are precise effectual against preventing ... severe unwellness and death," said Strang. "That's what we should beryllium focusing on. How bash we trim that fig of respiratory microorganism deaths? And it's done vaccines."

Strang said the state volition beryllium expanding eligibility for the RSV vaccine this autumn to see radical 75 and above, careless of wherever they live.

Previously, eligibility for the publically funded vaccine was restricted to people 60 and supra surviving successful semipermanent attraction oregon successful infirmary awaiting semipermanent attraction placement.