Numbers don’t measure full swine flu impact, says Ontario health official

CBC News

Swine flu has entered a new phase in Ontario as the virus continues to spread in some communities, a provincial health official said Thursday.

As of Wednesday, the number of reported cases in the province had jumped 25 per cent in the past three days. Since Monday, 179 cases were reported, mostly in the Greater Toronto Area, bringing the province’s total to 894.

‘It hasn’t reached the phase six level where a large per cent of the population have it, and we’re seeing doctors offices being overwhelmed with patients.’— Dr. Michael Gardam

“We need to shift from the number of cases,” Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infectious diseases prevention and control at the Ontario Agency of Health Protection and Promotion, said in an interview with CBC News.

“We’re in a funny phase right now, where I’m telling you that this is continuing to spread and we’re measuring less, and that’s normal.

“We don’t need to measure anymore to know if this has spread into the community; it has. So now we’re measuring in much broader terms to get a sense of how big an impact is this on the Ontario, or depending on where you are, the Canadian or the American population.”

Testing everyone who has flu-like symptoms, asking about travel histories to Mexico and tracing anyone who has been in contact with a confirmed case no longer offer public health officials any valuable information.

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