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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.
Twenty-nine people died from flu in Georgia between the start of the season in October and Dec. 27, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. That includes seven during Christmas week, Dec. 21-27. There were 1,580 hospitalizations for flu in an eight-county metro Atlanta area in the same period.
“We’re seeing a huge rise in flu these last couple of weeks,” Thornton said. And wastewater data from Wastewater Scan shows steady increases in flu in Atlanta over the course of December.
“It causes a major issue with volume, because not only does it fill our urgent cares, but it also can fill primary care practices and pediatric offices and also the emergency rooms and hospitals,” Thornton said.
Health care systems face an added strain when their workers get sick, he said. “Everyone gets affected by these spikes in flu cases.”
Georgia’s December surge is in line with national trends. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase of about 10,000 flu cases between Dec. 13 and 20.
There are several reasons for the increase, including a mismatch between the variant of flu covered by this season’s flu vaccine and the dominant type circulating (H3N2) relatively early in the season. That’s likely compounded by low vaccination rates.
Northeast Georgia Health System this week started requiring its staff to wear masks, and it strongly encourages patients to do so as well. On Friday, the system had 85 patients admitted for flu across its five hospitals, and 37.5% of the tests administered for flu came back positive for Influenza A this week, spokesperson Layne Saliba said. That’s about 10 percentage points higher than the same time last year.
“We are seeing an increase in very sick kids and teens this cold and flu season,” Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s website says, and the health system is requiring people over age 2 to wear masks in its facilities.
Emory Healthcare has created a dedicated 24/7 flu hotline where patients can speak to a nurse and be connected with the right kind of care. As of Tuesday, it is also asking people to wear masks while visiting its health care facilities.
‘I feel like I got hit by a train’
Thornton said telemedicine can be a good option for patients who want to stay home – and it can help relieve the pressure on local health systems. But people who are at higher risk for complications may want to see a doctor in person.
Rapid flu tests, whether self-administered at home or in a clinic, are about 70% accurate, Thornton said, but can sometimes result in false negatives. So health care providers also rely on other clues to diagnose and track flu.
Patients typically describe flu as having a very rapid onset of symptoms like body aches, fever, and respiratory ailments, which can help distinguish it from a cold or other illness, Thornton said.
“People tend to describe it very similarly. They say, ‘I feel like I got hit by a train’ or ‘I got hit by a bus’,” Thornton said. That telltale descriptor helps providers distinguish flu from a bad cold.
People at high risk for complications – such as the elderly, pregnant people, and those with certain chronic health conditions or who are immunocompromised – should check in with a medical provider, Thornton said. It’s also important to ensure that the flu does not progress to pneumonia or another complication.
Treatments like Tamiflu can reduce the severity of the flu if administered in time. Nationwide, the number of such prescriptions filled during December increased, another sign that flu cases are on the rise, according to data from GoodRx’s research team.
“We don’t want to see any deaths from the flu virus, and especially if we have a vaccine that can help protect people,” Thornton said.
Even though this year’s vaccine doesn’t perfectly match the current variant that is circulating widely (H3N2), it still provides good protection and reduces risk of serious complications and death from the disease.
Most Georgians have skipped the shot, with just 17.7% of adults and 12.6% of children age 6 months to 17 years vaccinated by the end of November, according to data from the CDC.
Cases could rise when metro school systems reopen next week, Thornton said.
“There’s a lot of factors involved. How many people picked up the virus over the holidays? How high are the vaccination rates in kids right now? We don’t quite have all that data yet, so it will remain to be seen,” Thornton said.
RSV, Covid are also on the rise
Thornton said he’s seen a “slight increase” in Covid cases over the past few weeks. He’s also noticed an uptick in RSV cases.
As of Dec. 20, CDC wastewater data showed Georgia with a moderate level of RSV and a very low level of Covid cases. The number of positive tests for RSV at selected clinical laboratories in Georgia increased during December as well, according to DPH data for the same period.
Rebecca Grapevine is a reporter covering public health in Atlanta for Healthbeat. Contact Rebecca at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org.
