Atlanta

High cases of flu seen in children and unvaccinated, CDC says

ATLANTA — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia is no longer the only state in the Southeast with a high number of flu-like cases.

Tennessee and South Carolina are both listed as having red status (high flu activity), and Alabama is not far behind.

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Hospitals and doctor’s offices in the area are inundated with patients with flu-like symptoms, including children with respiratory illnesses like RSV.

Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins spoke to a pediatrician who practices in Cumming, but is seeing dozens of patients across Fulton, Forsyth, Cherokee and Hall counties.

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Rawlins was lucky enough to schedule a 5-minute chat via Zoom with Dr. Hiral Lavania from One Family Pediatrics, because Lavania’s schedule is so full.

Lavania says the majority of the cases she is seeing are in children who are unvaccinated.

“Most of the people we are seeing have not gotten the vaccine, so we feel like the vaccine is helping,” said Lavania. “Some of the kids that have gotten the flu vaccine and have gotten the flu experience a shorter course of about two days. The ones that haven’t gotten vaccinated, I’ve seen children with a fever for seven to 10 days.”

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