FLU ACTIVITY DROPS BUT REMAINS HIGH IN GEORGIA

Since flu season began in October, illness has killed 17 in Georgia.

Flu activity in Georgia continues to decrease but remains high.

The Georgia Department of Public Health said 5.3 percent of patient visits to doctors were for the flu during the week ending Feb. 23. That’s down from 5.8 percent of visits the week before, according to the most recent report released on Friday.

After flu rates rose sharply before Christmas, they dropped and then started rising again in early February but are now going back down again.

The state has remained high in flu activity this season. According to the last six weeks of the Georgia Weekly Influenza Report, patient visits in the state have fluctuated between 3.9 percent and 6.3 percent in a testament to the virus’ unpredictability.

Since the flu season began in early October, the illness has killed 17 people in Georgia — 16 adults and one child. And there have been 1,207 hospitalizations in metro Atlanta due to flu symptoms.

In the most recent data set from the influenza report, which is compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia was one of 33 states experiencing high levels of the flu. Others included Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky and New York.

Experts continue to urge people to get a flu shot if they haven’t already done so. Flu activity tends to peak between December and February but can last as late as May.

Georgia’s 2017-18 severe flu season didn’t subside until the end of April. It claimed at least 154 lives statewide and led to more than 3,000 hospitalizations in metro Atlanta. Local health officials called it the worst outbreak in decades.

Dr. Hugo Scornik, a Conyers pediatrician, said his office saw an initial peak of cases in December, followed by a quieter January and then a second peak in February.

Even so, Scornik and other doctors say this season is shaping up to be a gentler flu season compared with last year’s brutal season.