For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Nova Scotians dying from influenza exceeds the number of COVID deaths.

According to the province’s latest respiratory watch report, 124 Nova Scotians have died from influenza during the 2024-25 respiratory season, which runs from Aug. 25, 2024, and will go up until Aug. 29, 2025. There have been 108 COVID deaths so far this season.

“Some people have said, ‘Oh, thank goodness, we’re back to normal,’” (Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases doctor) said. “And I’m like, 'Well, now we’ve got two viruses — not just one — that are still in the really important category for hospitalizations, bad lungs and deaths.”