It seems like a lot of people are getting sick lately in Sask. What's going on?

Adam Ogieglo's home has been a "cornucopia of illnesses" for weeks, with his four young children taking turns being sick.

"It's been pretty non-stop since the start of school, basically," he said.

Two of Ogieglo's children are school-aged. He says there hasn't been a single week where both kids were in school for the whole time.

Ogieglo, also a family doctor in Saskatoon, said his clinic has been seeing two to four hour waits lately, driven by people with viral infections.

"Lots of upper respiratory tract infections, so coughs, colds, fevers, headaches, body aches," he said.

"Occasionally we see someone that's worse off, has a bit of a pneumonia or ear infections."

COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory infections are all on the rise in Saskatchewan, according to the Ministry of Health's most recent report, which covers the period of Oct. 9 to 22.

Heidi Fischer, a mental health advocate in Saskatoon, has had a sore throat, stuffy nose and hoarse voice for more than a week.

She said she can't seem to shake it off.

"I've had some days where for the afternoon I felt maybe 20 per cent better … and then I wake up and I feel worse," she said.

"I did end up going to the doctor because I was like, this is lasting too long. I got a nose spray, but it could take 10 days for it to work."

Fischer said she hasn't been sick in three years.

"Did my body forget how to be sick?"

There hasn't been an uptick in sicknesses around this time for several years, because more people were taking measures such as masking indoors and staying home when sick, according to Ogieglo.

In fact, influenza levels were exceptionally low nationally until early 2022, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection rates were close to zero for months.

But the rollback of pandemic restrictions and physical distancing is causing more people to be sick and worsening wait times in clinics, Ogielgo said.

"People are starting to let their guard down a little bit with some of these viruses and that's kind of continued. So it's busier than we're used to," he said.

More absences in schools

Some of the province's largest school divisions are also reporting more absences among students and staff.

"We are experiencing a growing level of staff absenteeism due to illness. We are making every effort to ensure substitute staff are in place," wrote Brenda Erickson, communication manager for the Prairie Spirit School Division, in a statement.

Twylla West, communications and media co-ordinator for Regina Catholic Schools, said it's "important to note the commitment many have made over the past couple of year[s] to choosing to stay home to prevent the potential spread of illness, which I think we all appreciate."

Ogieglo is concerned about the long wait times at clinics as the cold and flu season persists.

"We're just entering our winter," he said. "This is really going forward until the spring I think. So I think people can sort of anticipate longer wait times all the way through the winter."