{"id":521545,"date":"2026-03-08T01:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T01:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521545\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T01:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T01:21:10","slug":"b-c-s-top-doctor-declares-end-to-provinces-2025-26-respiratory-illness-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521545\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C.’s top doctor declares end to province’s 2025-26 respiratory-illness season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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B.C.’s current respiratory-illness season has drawn to a close, according to a declaration by the province’s provincial health officer.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a news release Friday that the most recent data from public-health partners show “low and decreasing levels of respiratory illness,” including influenza, RSV and COVID-19 in B.C.<\/p>\n

She shared the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s update<\/a> from the week of March 5.<\/p>\n

“While influenza B test positivity is showing an expected late-season increase to moderate levels, influenza A test positivity and wastewater levels are low,” Henry said.<\/p>\n

“RSV test positivity, while also elevated, has decreased over the past two weeks, and markers of COVID-19 activity remain low overall.”<\/p>\n

Henry said it’s important that residents wash their hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer, as well as cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough.<\/p>\n

“These practices help keep you, your families and your communities safe, healthy and happy,” she said.<\/p>\n

As spring break nears, Henry reminded residents to check that their vaccines are up to date, particularly measles, which she said is spreading in many countries.<\/p>\n

B.C. has also seen measles cases. In 2026, there have been 17 total cases, according to Health Canada<\/a>. Canada lost its measles elimination status last year.<\/p>\n

Henry also recommended older people and those with compromised immune systems to consider an additional COVID-19 vaccine to stay protected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-521545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}