Strategies for staying healthy over the holidays

It's been referred to as the triple-demic - a tridemic - the result of three viruses making people very ill. Calgarians have already seen the impact of RSV, the flu and COVID-19 in pushing Alberta Children's Hospital over its capacity.

With peope getting together over the holidays, it could get worse.

Dr. Jia Hu is a Calgary family physician and the CEO of 19 to Zero, an organization that aims to shift public perceptions to healthier behaviours. He joined CTV News anchor Ian White to talk about strategies for dealing with the tridemic.

Dr. Jia Hu is a Calgary family physician

Q. What is the tridemic scenario right now?

A. It might be improving a bit, particularly there's some indications that flu cases are declining in Alberta and across the country. RSV I thought had plateaued a couple weeks ago, but regardless, what we're seeing is still very, very high levels particularly of respiratory viruses.

You mentioned the tridemic (of) the flu, the RSV and COVID-19. That's why we're seeing a particular logjam in our hospitals. Kids are getting hit really hard this season.

Q. More people are said to be in ICUs with flu than with COVID-19. How bad is this flu?

A. It's a pretty severe season. Keeping in mind that last year and the year before, we virtually had no flu at all due to the measures we put in place to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. We also actually have pretty low immunization rates for flu, even though we're seeing such a large surge in the number of cases this season. We're kind of going back to this normal kind of (scenario) before COVID happened.

Every year we have a flu season, we have an RSV and the host of other respiratory viruses floating around that can get you and your family sick but I think the confluence of perhaps not being exposed, with really bad early flu and RSV and along with the baseline COVID it's causing a lot of people to get sick and even seriously ill.

19 to Zero

Q. Can you get both the COVID-19 booster and a flu shot in the same day?

A. I would recommend people get them on the same day – it's a heck of a lot easier. They're widely available in pharmacies. We have lots of supply – you can book online.

As far as something to do to protect yourself, it's one of the easiest things to do with all the stuff (viruses) around. Eating healthy – that stuff is important too, but nothing is as quick and easy as vaccinations.

Q. What's the scenario if you get a fourth shot? How does that improve your chances going into the holiday season?

A. With COVID, what we see is that after three to six months, you begin to see your immunity to the virus fading, especially with these new variants coming around – since we've had Omicron.

 A lot of people have had milder COVID because they've been vaccinated and I think it still does cause a substantial number of hospitalizations – it's just sort of key to reigniting your immune system to protect against COVID.

It really is very good. Perhaps not as good at preventing against infection, but very good at preventing against severe infection, so things that would take you to emergency or getting admitted to the hospital – and I think those are generally places people want to avoid these days.

Q. How often do patients present you with misinformation? And how do you explain it to them?

A. Nowadays a lot of people – there are always some people who don't really believe in vaccines – but I think most people actually just aren't aware of basic facts.  A lot of people think for example that the flu vaccine doesn't work because they get sick right after they get the vaccine but that could be caused by any number of viruses.

With COVID I think a lot of people just don't realize how serious it can still be because most people in the past have been vaccinated with something.

Encountering someone like that, I think the best way to engage them is really to show some empathy, and try to understand where they're coming from because right now, I do understand that recommendations around vaccines can be quite confusing in terms of when to get it, after you're past infection, when to get it for a past booster, but I think the bottom line is now if you haven't had your flu shot, if you haven't had a COVID infection or a COVID booster in the last 3-6 months, you should get one.

It's the best way to keep yourself safe as we come close to the holiday season.