While the main focus this year has been in battling COVID 19, typically at this time of year we're dealing with the flu. The risk of the flu is a very real thing, but the measures that have been used to battle the pandemic seem to be working in reducing the number of flu cases in the province, and the country, dramatically. 

The Saskatchewan Health Authority issued a press release late Wednesday afternoon written by Medical Health Officer and the SHA’s Co-Lead for the Influenza Vaccine Program Dr. Tania Diener. In that release, Diener says that not only are cases of the flu down this year, but they're not even here. 

"As of January 21, 2021, there have been 1,489 tests for influenza processed in Saskatchewan. We have had no positive test results. We have no deaths related to influenza in the current influenza season. For comparison purposes, last year we had more than 3,700 tests process and 1,369 positive results – a test positive rate of almost 37 percent." 

The release does not state how many people typically are killed in the province per year due to influenza, but according to the Government of Canada's online resource for historical influenza data, 224 people were killed by the flu in 2019's flu season ahead of the pandemic. 

In total, Canada has seen just 51 cases of influenza throughout the entire country as of last week. Comparatively, there are normally over 15,000 cases of the flu across the country. As for why the cases are down so drastically, Dr. Diener listed a number of factors. 

"The southern hemisphere had a very mild influenza season, and that normally helps predict the type of season we would see in the northern hemisphere. The significant reduction in international travel also played an important role, as we usually see influenza cases that are a result of that travel – either people from the southern hemisphere coming north or residents here travelling south." 

Aside from large scale factors, there have been a number of smaller things that have become parts of our everyday lives during the pandemic that Diener believes have made a significant impact. 

"The extensive community mitigation measures that are in place, such as using face masks, social distancing, and increased personal hygiene – all the hand sanitizer we’ve been using. The fact that there have been partial lockdowns from time-to-time, and much less travel. All of those have made a huge difference in terms of influenza activity." 

Going into the winter, the SHA along with every health authority in the country was urging people to get their flu vaccines this year to avoid what some called a 'twindemic', and it seems we've been successful in avoiding that. According to Dr. Diener, the flu vaccine has been working just as intended. 

"As of December 31, an estimated total of 329,287 flu vaccine doses have been administered to Saskatchewan residents. This is a slight decrease compared to the same time period in the 2019-2020 season. Please note that the estimated total doses may be subject to a delay in data entry and, as a consequence, the totals may be underestimated. We believe the final numbers will be similar or ahead of previous years."