Manitoba's Chief Provincial Public Health Officer says this coming fall and winter will be a challenging time.Dr. Brent Roussin is referring to the anticipated combination of the regular flu season and COVID-19. Dr. Roussin says this upcoming respiratory season will be treated as a COVID season until proven otherwise.

"We see (COVID) in other parts of the world, we see it in Canada still, so we are going to see this virus again and so Manitobans need to expect to see cases," says Dr. Roussin. "We need to prepare to see an increase in cases in the fall, higher than even in our first wave possibly. So we need to prepare for that."

Dr. Roussin says part of the strategy of being prepared involves staying home when feeling ill. He notes they will be preparing Manitobans to see increased absenteeism at work and school.

"We're going to do whatever we can to not get back into an area where we were in March and April with large shutdowns," says Dr. Roussin. "We want to learn how to live with this virus. We need to anticipate seeing this virus."

As a result, Dr. Roussin says he is anticipating an increase in flu shots this fall. By comparison, he says our province noticed a substantial increase in 2009 from H1N1.

"So we are preparing for a significant increase," he says. "And really striving for that this year."

Last year 26.3 percent of Manitobans were immunized with the seasonal influenza vaccine.

"That is going to be a robust plan for increasing our uptake of the flu vaccine, especially those at high risk of severe outcomes," he says. "Because we are definitely going to see respiratory virus season."

Meanwhile, Dr. Roussin says mask-wearing in Manitoba will probably be a bigger part of our response going forward.