Flu toll mounts in Georgia

Seven more Georgians have died from the flu, bringing the total to 12 deaths across the state this influenza season, Public Health officials said Friday.

There were 40 hospitalizations in metro Atlanta due to influenza infection during the week of Jan. 7 through Jan. 13, the state Department of Public Health said. So far this season, area facilities have seen 404 hospitalizations due to flu.

Some hospitals, coping with a large influx of flu patients, have put restrictions on visitors for the time being.

Dr. Van Baker, medical director of emergency services at Piedmont Newnan, said this week that a sudden surge in patients has caused the hospital to remain near — or at — capacity most days, the Newnan Times- Herald reported.

And physicians told wsbtv.com that the recent snow days may lead to another flu spike.

“We’re seeing about a 50-percent increase every week that goes on,” said Dr. James Yost with Peachtree Immediate Care in Cumming. He explained that when winter storms confine most of the public to their homes or shelters, “people crowd together and more spreading [of flu] goes on.”

Dr. Ben Spitalnick, a Savannah pediatrician, said his office is seeing a wave of children whose parents wish they had gotten them vaccinated, or wish this season’s vaccine worked better, the AJC reported. “We are seeing much higher volumes, of much sicker kids, than we usually see,” Spitalnick said.

Health experts acknowledge that the vaccine has not worked as well as hoped, noting that the strain of flu hitting the country is somewhat different from what vaccine makers foresaw. But the experts continue to urge people to get vaccinated if they have not done so.

The flu impact remains severe across the country. The geographic spread of influenza in Puerto Rico and 49 states (all but Hawaii) was reported as widespread, the CDC said.

Alabama declared a public health emergency after the sheer number of flu patients began taxing medical staff.

Medical centers nationally are responding with extraordinary measures, including asking staff to work overtime, setting up triage tents, and canceling elective surgeries, Time magazine reported.