Flu Boost Worrying Health Officials—Where To Get A Shot

According to the Star-Tribune, this winter's flu outbreak is worrying state health officials.

With nearly 300 sickened this early in the season—120 of which came down with la grippe in the last calendar week of December 2012—a state health official the paper talked to thought that "this has the potential to be severe."

Since Dec. 22, the number of ill people showing up at emergency rooms and clinics has continued unabated, say health officials. And some say it's just as bad as it was at the same time of year during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic when 1,800 people in Minnesota were hospitalized over a 12-month period. Since the official start of the flu season in October, 297 people have been hospitalized. The Health Department will release updated numbers later this week.

Patients are spanning all age ranges, the paper reports.

In case you missed it, last month we posted a run-down of spots in Southwest Minneapolis where you can get a flu shot, including several local Walgreens, Rainbow Foods and Cub Foods locations.