Mississippi’s statewide flu rate continues edging upward and now only seven states are seeing more flu than we are.   At the same time, there’s been a dramatic decrease in cases in the public health district which historically has been Mississippi’s flu hotspot.

The State Health Department says doctors reported almost 700 cases of flu-like illness among the almost 14,000 patients they saw during the week ending January 31st.  That translates into a flu rate of five per cent which is up slightly from the week before but slightly below the peak we saw just after Christmas.   Two of the local health districts followed the statewide trend with the district which includes Leake and Neshoba counties increasing to a flu rate of 7.5 per cent while the district which includes Winston and Choctaw counties seeing a smaller jump to just over 4.5 per cent.  But in the district which includes Attala, Holmes, Carroll and Montgomery counties and much of the Delta, the flu rate has gone from 15 per cent to under 5 per cent in a week’s time.

The CDC continues to classify Mississippi as having a “high” amount of flu activity, the same as Alabama.  But there’s more flu in Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas with those states at the “very high” level.

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