Flu in S.C. is in its fourth week of being ‘widespread’

The number of flu cases is on the rise in South Carolina, entering a fourth week in the “widespread” category, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The news comes on the 100th anniversary of a flu-virus pandemic that killed tens of millions worldwide. The state is not near that catastrophic event or the flu pandemics of 1957, 1968 and 2009.

But the current state numbers are spiking.

The latest weekly DHEC report — from Dec. 31, 2017 to Jan. 6, 2018— show that number of confirmed cases has grown more than 40 percent from the previous week. The state reported 4,831 cases of the flu, an increase of 1,395 cases.

In that same period the number of hospitalizations grew 87 percent, to 268 hospitalizations.

DHEC reports that there were 187 confirmed flu cases in Beaufort County in that same period. There were 13 confirmed cases in Jasper County.

But the report does offer a glimmer of good news.

While the number of cases grew, the percentage of people in the state dying from the illness was below the numbers reported in mid-December.

This flu season has claimed 15 lives, 13 of which were people 65 years or older. One of those deaths was in the Lowcountry — a region comprised by DHEC of 11 counties that includes both Beaufort and Jasper counties.

Data from the 2015 season shows that flu season topped out in the tenth week.

In 2017, the flu virus was peaked in the seventh through 13th week of the season.

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Flu in S.C. is in its fourth week of being ‘widespread’."