Toronto is getting hit hard by the flu bug this season.
There has been an increase, as of late, of reported cases to Toronto Public Health. "In the week ending Christmas Eve we had 75 new cases of laboratory-confirmed flu reported to us. At the end of that same week, Christmas Eve, for the entire season to-date we had 244 lab-confirmed cases of the flu reported to us," explains Dr. Michael Finkelstein.
He says that's higher than the 10-year average for this time of year which is 200 cases.
"H3N2 is the type of flu that most people are getting this year. One thing that is hopeful to note is that there is a good match between the type of flu that is being seen most commonly and the type that is in the vaccine this year," he adds.
No one has died, yet, this year from the flu.
Over the last five days there's been an uptick in cases reported at long-term care, retirement, and seniors homes. "We've had nine reported outbreaks since Friday." To give that figure context, Dr. Finkelstein says there were 59 outbreaks during the entire flu season last year at similar care homes.
In the 2015-16 flu season, a total of 2,698 lab-confirmed cases were reported in the City of Toronto, eighteen people died.