Why is everyone so sick this winter?

In today’s Big Story Podcast, it certainly seems like this season has been worse for illness than most previous years. But has it? If it has, is it the pandemic? Is it the “triple-demic”? Or is it a normal pre-pandemic cold and flu season that we use to just live through?

Whatever the reasons, hospitals are crammed, and polls say nurses and doctors are fleeing their professions in droves.

Dr. Raywat Deonandan is an epidemiologist, a science communicator specializing in global health and an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Health Sciences. He says data indicates that the perceived increase in illness is likely real, and that it’s being exacerbated by systemic issues like staffing shortages.

“Bottom line is yes, it looks like there’s more respiratory illness, and it looks like it’s having a bigger impact on us because of these other structural issues,” says Dr. Deonandan.  

So will winters just be like this now? And if they are, is there any alternative to just suffering through it?