Local health officials say December was a rough month when it came to Influenza.
Both Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) and Chatham-Kent (CK) Public Health noted higher flu cases in the month of December.
In fact, the CKHA says it saw roughly four times the amount of patients with flu-like symptoms in the month of December, compared to what they would normally see.
CK Public Health experienced the same increase, adding that activity was highest in the last couple of weeks of 2025, with around 30 confirmed cases per week.
"Interestingly, we've had a greater number of patients seeking care for those conditions, but it hasn't translated into a significant number of increased admissions," said Caen Suni, the Vice President of Clinical Operations at CKHA.
Suni noted that the high flu case number may be attributed to a lack of primary care and low vaccination numbers.
"Most of the illness this year has been caused by Influenza A (H3N2)," said Jackie Cartwright, the Community Outreach and Public Relations Officer for CK Public Health.
Both health care organizations mention that the high case numbers may be due to vaccines that are not an exact match to the this season's predominant strain.
According to Public Health, numbers are back down to roughly nine cases a week.
Suni adds that those experiences flu-like symptoms who have a family doctor should reach out to their primary physician before coming to the emergency room. He encourages those without primary care to check clinics like Bridge Care before coming to the hospital.
