REGINA, Sask. — Saskatchewan is seeing plenty of the common cold, but little evidence so far of a major flu, COVID-19 or RSV surge as October begins.
The latest data from the Saskatchewan Community Respiratory Illness Surveillance Program shows respiratory illness activity remaining around interseasonal levels for the four-week period ending Sept. 5.
Laboratory testing through the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory recorded 255 detections of respiratory viruses other than influenza and COVID-19, with rhinovirus, a major cause of the common cold, accounting for much of that activity.
Tania Diener, a medical health officer in Regina, says the same pattern is showing up in the Queen City.
“At the moment, it's really the common cold ones,” Diener said. “As examples, I said the entero and the rhinoviruses.”
There have been occasional detections of influenza, COVID-19 and RSV, but the numbers remain low. Saskatchewan recorded 14 influenza detections during the reporting period, with test positivity below one per cent, while there were two laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 detections and one RSV detection.
Diener says that does not mean the province can assume the rest of the fall will remain quiet.
“We do see the odd COVID or RSV or influenza, but it's not that we're in that specific respiratory season yet,” she said. “But we've seen a little bit of an uptick already.”
She says public health officials are watching testing from physicians and laboratories for signs that influenza or other respiratory viruses are beginning to accelerate.
“I think it might be a little bit early,” Diener said. “Sometimes we might see an early start to the influenza season. So we're always watching for that.”
For now, the low levels of major seasonal viruses are also reflected in severe outcomes, with respiratory-related hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and deaths remaining at seasonal lows during the reporting period.
But the arrival of cooler weather and more time indoors could change the picture. Diener says a typical fall and winter respiratory season tends to become busier later in the year, although the timing varies.
“December, January tends to be the busier one,” she said. “But it all depends. It can start earlier or it can start later.”
Saskatchewan's fall immunization campaign is also approaching. Diener says appointments for the 2026 campaign are expected to become available through the online booking system in early October, with clinics beginning in mid-October.
She says residents should not wait for widespread illness before thinking about prevention, particularly because vaccines take time to build protection.
“It takes about 10 to 14 days for vaccines to really start working,” Diener said.
In the meantime, health officials continue to recommend staying home when sick, avoiding close contact with others, washing hands and covering coughs and sneezes.
Diener says those precautions matter even when the virus causing the illness is only a common cold.
And while young children, pregnant people, older adults and those with underlying or immunosuppressive conditions face greater risk of complications, she says protecting vulnerable people is a community responsibility.
“By getting immunized, you're not only protecting yourself, but also vulnerable people around you,” Diener said. “All of us should be because we are in contact with those individuals as well and we need to play our part in protecting them.”
