UPDATED: Flu Rates Skyrocket in Minnesota; 27 Deaths Now Reported
More than 1,100 hospitalized; Minnesota Department of Health urges precautions. So far, absences at Minnetonka Schools are consistent with past years.
This flu season is proving brutal in Minnesota, with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) now reporting 27 deaths in the state, including 23 that officials have been able to confirm as flu-related since Dec. 30. Since the start of the influenza season, 1,121 people have been hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza, according to the MDH reports for the 2012–2013 season. That number includes 401 hospitalizations for the week ending Jan. 5. MDH officials say the number of those hospitalized throughout the state rivals those seen during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, but that there is no evidence that the current wave of illnesses is prompted by a new virus. "What is occurring has happened before," Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. …
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