The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says the number of lab-confirmed cases of influenza is way over what it was last year.
It says it has confirmed 220 cases with lab testing, compared to 160 during the flu season in 2017, but Manager of Infectious Disease Prevention Lora Piccinin says that is only a fraction of cases in the community.
"Those cases, when we say lab-confirmed, are only cases that are diagnosed in a long-term care facility or a hospital," she says. "Cases in the community... Public Health Lab of Ontario can't keep up with all the testing."
So far, there have been 26 outbreaks at long-term care homes and hospitals. There were just seven last year.
Piccinin says schools have been walloped too.
"We've had about 12 schools report greater than 10% absenteeism, and I think last year we only had three," she says.
There have been questions about the efficacy of this year's flu vaccine, and Piccinin says it is about 45% effective against the strains making people sick this year, but she says some protection is better than no protection.
Unfortunately, flu vaccination rates have not changed much. Piccinin says only 40% of the community continues to get the shot.
In addition to getting the flu shot, she also urges people to wash their hands frequently.
"People don't realize how frequently they touch their face, they rub their eyes, they feel a tickle in their nose and the next thing they know, they might be introducing the virus into their system," says Piccinin.
Health officials also urge anyone who is feeling sick to stay home. Piccinin says outbreaks at hospitals and long-term care homes start because those who are infected continue to go to places where it can spread to a large number of people.
"If they're sick, they should stay away from those high-risk individuals; not going to long-term care homes to visit grandma or grandpa," says Piccinin. "That's how that outbreak starts in those homes."