ATLANTA, Ga.–Mississippi is not one of the 25 states reporting high flu activity, but the Magnolia State does have a lot of people heading into the ER or the doctor with flu-like symptoms.
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported 25 states with widespread flu activity. They were: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington state and Wyoming, according to the CDC’s weekly flu advisory report, covering the week ending December 28.
“Widespread” means that more than 50 percent of counties in a state were reporting flu activity.
Where Mississippi came in in the CDC data was people reporting flu-like symptoms. You’ve seen it- coughing, serious sinus crud, hardly able to get out of bed, but it may or may not be the flu.
The season peaks in January and february and Mississippi has had a child die from the flu already so far this season. The CDC says H1N1 is the most common type of flu being reported. That’s the “swine flu”, if you remember the outbreak in 2009.
The CDC said this year’s vaccine covers that.
Last year, 381,000 people were hospitalized and 171 children died in what’s being called a relatively severe season.
