As flu rates increase in Georgia, forcing families to replace trips to visit grandparents with trips to the doctor, local health systems are asking people to mask up and warning patients of longer wait times in the emergency room.
It’s hard to say exactly how many cases of flu there are in Atlanta, in part because of reporting delays due to the holidays. Many people now test for flu at home, said Dr. Andrew Thornton, a doctor who works in Wellstar urgent care clinics in Atlanta. That means official data sources are likely an undercount.
But health systems say they are being hit hard – and they expect the number of cases to increase in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Georgia’s flu vaccination rates remain low, putting more people at risk of complications and even death.
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