National flu-season plan urged as holiday illness surge looms

Public health specialist and newly appointed Independent Senator Dr Kenneth Connell has warned that Barbados faces a likely surge in respiratory illnesses during the holiday period, and urged government to introduce a coordinated national policy to manage the annual flu season.

Senator Connell, Deputy Dean of Recruitment and Outreach in the UWI Faculty of Medical Sciences, said: “We are definitely somewhere in the first third of the seasonal flu season,” noting that influenza is not the only concern.

“Every year there is a flu season, and several respiratory bugs are involved in this, so the flu, the common cold, as well as even COVID-19.”

Senator Connell explained that Barbados’ status as a major tourist destination adds another layer of vulnerability. With thousands of visitors arriving from temperate countries during the winter months, respiratory viruses circulating abroad often reach local shores shortly after.

“Whatever happens in the United Kingdom and the United States and our main tourist markets, eventually in a few weeks, we’ll be here,” he said.

While hospitals have taken steps to prepare, he stressed that the most effective defence lies in public health action and individual responsibility.

“The most important intervention is actually public health interventions which involve getting people prepared from a prevention standpoint,” he explained.

Simple measures, he added, remain critical. These include mask-wearing in enclosed spaces, frequent handwashing and proper respiratory etiquette. “At the hospital, we’ve never unmasked really. We continued post-COVID to mandate masks in the clinical setting.”

“Be sensible and practise great respiratory etiquette, which is covering your nose if you’re coughing into your arm and not into your hand that you’re gonna shake with.”

While acknowledging improvements since COVID-19, Connell said gaps remain in public education and planning.

“I will never say enough precautions are being taken because it’s always a work in progress,” he said. “There has been a tsunami of information about protection against respiratory illnesses, and therefore we do a lot more now than we did pre-COVID.”

Still, he believes more visible public messaging is needed.

“I haven’t seen any ads out there as yet on the flu and symptoms to look out for,” he said.

Senator Connell made a call for a structured national approach to seasonal outbreaks. “At a national level, I would like to see in place a national policy on how we treat the seasonal flu season.”

Comparing it to hurricane preparedness, he added: “You know it’s going to happen, so there should be a taskforce looking at this so that things are in place and everyone just follows the same script.”

Such a framework, he argued, should involve public and private healthcare providers, businesses and institutions — especially those with large workforces — as Barbados moves deeper into the flu season and closer to the peak of holiday activity.

But Senator Connell said national attention must be focused on protecting those most at risk. He highlighted older adults in multi-generational households and people living with non-communicable diseases.

“Granny may be at home living in a multi-generational household where the grandson has picked up the flu or some bug from nursery school, right, and as a result, he may not be that symptomatic or have symptoms, maybe just a little sniffle, but that bug can be quite dangerous for Granny, and so you have to be cautious in the high-risk groups,” he said. “People living with diabetes and hypertension and those of you who are obese or overweight are at a higher risk of developing complications from respiratory illnesses.”

He also outlined the pressure seasonal illnesses place on healthcare services, especially during the Christmas period. “Every year, you know, health systems are stretched because of the flu virus,” said Dr Connell, who explains that many hospitals restrict leave during the holidays to maintain staffing levels. Despite this, illness among staff is unavoidable. “Departments are going to be stretched with people calling in sick legitimately because they’re at home.”

One of his strongest cautions was directed at people who continue to work while ill. “If you are sick, this is probably the most important one, do not go to work, because then that just makes everyone else sick . . . . You don’t want to go and infect the entire team.”

Addressing recent increases in COVID-19 cases, he said the trend was expected and mirrored patterns seen since the end of the pandemic.

“The spike in COVID numbers is no surprise,” he said, pointing to increased social activity during the holiday season. “There will be seasonal spikes in COVID-19 like any other respiratory illness.”

To combat the rising numbers of people who need to be treated and to maintain services, hospitals often rely on additional personnel. “Locum doctors and additional staff may have to cover over the holiday season,” he added, stressing that these measures are essential to ensure critical departments such as Accident and Emergency and Internal Medicine remain functional.

laurynescamilla@barbadostoday.bb