Atlanta is One of the Sickest Cities in The Country Right Now
Visualization courtesy of Kinsa.
Right now, Georgia is the sickest state in the nation, and Atlanta is one of the most illest cities.
And not in a cool, 90s-rapper way.
Millions of people in the south have the flu. That’s according to data from Kinsa, a company that tracks flu-like illnesses in real time. Kinsa has collected more than 10 million anonymous temperature readings, averaging 40,000 per day during the last flu season.
According to Kinsa materials, their insights team is now able to track outbreaks of the flu in real-time by studying the aggregate data of where fever and other symptoms are occurring around the country. Kinsa’s data aligns with the CDC’s influenza data over the past 3 years, and is available in real-time.
The national illness level is up about 36 percent from this same week last year, with over 14 million people sick across the U.S. Kinsa data shows, with Georgia having the highest rates of illness per capita.
And Atlanta isn’t immune. According to their data, about 5.8 percent of the city is experiencing flu-like symptoms. That means about 417,600 people are feeling under the weather. By comparison, the sickest city in the country – Albany, Ga. – is 6 percent ill.
If you have the flu, the CDC says antiviral drugs can help alleviate your symptoms and shorten the duration of the illness. You should stay home and avoid contact with others, except when it’s to go get medical care.
To learn more about this year’s flu season and visualize the data collected, click here.