A Kingston infectious disease specialist is warning that influenza season seems to be arriving a month earlier than expected, and is urging people to book their flu shots as the holidays loom.

“We’ve seen a real sudden and dramatic increase in the number of positive test cases of people who are being tested for viral-like illnesses,” says Dr. Gerald Evans, the medical director of infection prevention and control at Kingston Health Sciences Centre, and the chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Queen’s University.

With typical test positives hovering around one per cent in the off-season, the past few days have seen an increase up to around 15 per cent positivity in test samples done in Kingston.

“That’s a big jump,” Evans said. “Last year, we had a lot of flu circulating, and a

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