Local

Flu season hits Georgia especially hard

CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A 10-year-old boy from Connecticut died Sunday after leaving a hockey tournament. Tuesday, a medical examiner confirmed he had flu type B that was complicated by pneumonia.

Right now, the flu is widespread in 49 states. Georgia is especially hard hit. Some hospitals are seeing close to 12 times as many cases as last year.

“I’ve heard a lot of people here in Camden (County) have it,” Carrie Miller said. Her two friends, daughter and granddaughter had the virus.

“It was horrible. They were coughing, they couldn’t stop coughing, they were running fevers,” she said.

“About two-three weeks ago, it took off with vengeance,” said Robert Munoz, a physician assistant at Amelia Medical Care.

Munoz said it’s the worst he’s seen in a long time.

“It’s to the point where we are running out of flu tests, and have to keep ordering,” he said.

In Georgia, so far five people have died this season – 56 were hospitalized in the first week of the year. In Florida, two children have died from the flu this season. Local hospitals are seeing a huge spike in cases. Southeast Georgia Health system in Camden County had 144 cases since Oct. 1st of last year to Jan. 15th – that’s almost four times more. In Brunswick, it’s worse. There were 414 cases, that’s almost 12 times more than last year.

So Action News Jax asked what’s behind the spike.

“Two years ago, there were two strains of flu that were not in the shot. This year, it’s more like three strains, including the H1N1, so you’ve got people who still got the shot, are still getting the flu,” Munoz said.