The south-central ranks among the main areas of influenza activity

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – As we head into the holidays, the Mid-South ranks among the top areas of flu activity.

According to the CDC’s weekly flu report, the state of Tennessee has the most flu cases of any state in the country.

“We kind of expected this, we predicted it was going to be a bad year because of what we saw in the southern hemisphere like Australia, they had a terrible year, they had an early year “said Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, Baptist Memorial infectious disease specialist.

That’s why, nationwide, about 20,000 people were hospitalized with the flu last week. This is almost double the number from the previous week.

As of November 19, the latest figures from the Tennessee Department of Health reported that more than 1,300 patients had tested positive for flu-like illnesses out of more than 8,000 treated at health facilities in Memphis-Shelby County – from numbers off peak, with no signs of backing off.

“Are vacations a problem, of course!” said Threlkeld. “People are traveling across the country to visit relatives, to visit elderly relatives, and that’s driven up both Covid and flu numbers.”

The Arkansas Department of Health has received more than 14,200 positive flu tests since October.

The Mississippi State Department of Health expects influenza activity associated with RSV and COVID-19 to remain high through the new year, a concern from officials over the availability of critical care beds in hospitals rural.

“They’re having a hard time being able to move to a higher level of care because of this and we’ve had a lot of transfers needing to go out of state because of the capacity challenge,” the state health department said. State of Mississippi.

While influenza activity remains high across the Mid-South, doctors are advising everyone who is eligible to protect themselves from the virus.

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