South Carolina flu deaths nearly doubled over the last week
Columbia, S.C. (WPDE) — Flu deaths have increased drastically over the last week in South Carolina.
As of Thursday, Jan. 25, there were 46 confirmed flu deaths. As of today there are 84 confirmed deaths, according to S.C. DHEC.
That's an 82 percent increase in deaths from the flu.
But, not all of those 38 deaths happened last week. Eight of them happened in previous weeks and were just reported to DHEC.
Most of the flu deaths came from the Upstate or Midlands areas, which had 29 and 30 respectively.
The Pee Dee area had 11 reported flu deaths and the Low Country had 14, according to DHEC.
Almost 75 percent of the flu deaths across the state have come from people 65 & older. There were 62 deaths in that age group, according to the Jan. 31 SC DHEC flu report.
There were also 15 deaths from people ages 50 to 64 and seven from people ages 18 to 49. No children have died this flu season in South Carolina.
More than 2,300 people have been hospitalized because of the flu this season. More than 600 of those happened in the past week, according to the report.
During the 2016-2017 flu season, a total of 94 influenza-associated deaths were reported.
