ATLANTA — Doctors are warning families that flu hospitalizations have reached a concerning level this week.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, 153 people were hospitalized in metro Atlanta last week. The data also shows flu has left more than 500 people hospitalized since October.
Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco was at the SmartMed Drive-Thru in Roswell on Tuesday where she said you could hear the coughing coming from cars lines up.
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Jason Fritz brought his child through for treatment on Tuesday evening.
“She’s coughing like that and up all night long. So, we’re here to, hopefully, see if we can get her better,” said Fritz.
She’s one of 700 patients who’ve visited the clinic in the past six days, according to Dr. Luke Lathrop.
Staff use hospital-grade testing to diagnose patients as accurately as possible, and he said half are positive for influenza. Others are testing positive for COVID, RSV and strep.
“If you have a fever of 103, things like that, you can’t be around family. You’re going to get grandma sick or little baby sick, and we just can’t do that,” said Dr. Lathrop.
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Children’s Heathcare of Atlanta’s website said it’s managing a high number of very sick children and teenagers due to the flu.
Wait times at the Emergency Department were as long as 135 minutes Tuesday night.
“Pharmacies are running out of Tamiflu,” said Dr. Lathrop. “I know a few local schools had to close early last week because all the kids were sick.”
His clinic will double the number of staff working Christmas Eve to treat as many people as possible, and doctors keep patients in their cars to reduce contact and slow the spread of the virus.
“I’d say it’s worse than last year because it came out of nowhere. Last year, there was a little bit of a ramp up, and then it hit the scene. But this year, it was just crazy,” said Dr. Lathrop
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