An early start to Canada’s flu season is hitting children hard, sending a flood of young patients into multiple pediatric hospitals as medical teams warn that emergency visits and admissions could keep climbing in the weeks ahead.

At CHEO, eastern Ontario's children's hospital in Ottawa, eight times more children tested positive for influenza in November compared with the same month in 2024, while double the number of children needed to be hospitalized. Most of those children hadn’t had a seasonal flu vaccine, according to CHEO’s emergency department team.

The hospital saw “unprecedented” numbers on Monday, with close to 300 young patients coming through the emergency department in a single day, marking a roughly 20 per cent increase from last year, CHEO’s vice-president of acute care se

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