Province prepping for peak respiratory virus season

After Alberta's deadly flu season last year, the province says it's better prepared this time around. Last year, we also knew that there was a mismatch on the vaccine itself. It didn't really affect the strongest strain, which caused most problems. The 2025-26 flu season had the highest number of reported influenza deaths. There were also low vaccination rates, but LaGrange says the province is seeing an uptick in vaccinations this year with work still needing to be done. We have seen right across Canada that the uptake on certain vaccines is less than 40 percent and that that needs to be addressed. Also getting attention from the province hospital capacity. Alberta enters this respiratory virus season with 9,003 acute care spaces. That's a record high. The province says in the past few years, it's opened 221 permanent hospital spaces, 102 in Edmonton and 79 in Calgary. And we're preparing another 194 temporary spaces that can be brought into service if demand increases beyond our existing capacity. There's also more supports for some of the province's busiest hospitals. We know that Edmonton is growing quickly and we know it's hospitals are under a lot of pressure. That's why we're having the task force start there. For that reason, Smith says respiratory season supports also include an Edmonton acute care capacity task force. That's alongside recruiting nurses, closely monitoring capacity and adding funding for Alberta's triage liaison program. All those in an effort to get Albertans care sooner during busy respiratory virus season. But the province also says it hopes these measures will bolster the health care system as a whole. Chelsea Mutter, CBC News, Calgary.