Alberta Flu Season Finishes Strong, Still Pushing for Gold in Preventable Deaths

Alberta’s flu season has officially secured its place on the podium, finishing second-deadliest in recent memory and still eyeing the top spot with several weeks left to compete.

According to the province’s respiratory virus dashboard, 197 Albertans have died of influenza so far this season, a figure experts describe as “alarming,” “disappointing,” and “apparently not alarming enough to change anything.”

Only the 2009–10 season, remembered fondly as the year Alberta launched a universal flu vaccine program, has recorded more deaths. That historical footnote now serves mainly as a reminder that the province once believed prevention was worth attempting.

“We are on pace to perhaps be the most deadly year on record,” said University of Calgary professor Craig Jenne, carefully understating what most people would call bad.

Despite the influenza peak having passed, the virus is expected to circulate until March, giving Alberta ample time to break its own record, or at least remain consistent with its recent tradition of annual new highs.

Public health officials remain cautiously optimistic that next year’s numbers will also be worse.

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