Minnesota's ICU beds filling up amid surge in influenza cases
MINNEAPOLIS -- Flu season is quickly accelerating, and hospital beds are filling up.
The new weekly report out Thursday shows Minnesota's number of new cases is far ahead of recent years. However, the last two flu seasons reflected a much lower number of hospitalizations as many were either locked down or masking and sanitizing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Still, we've already seen half of all last season's hospitalizations -- 439 to date. Of those, 243 were newly reported this past week.
Additionally, the seven-day average showed 97% of available ICU beds in the Twin Cities were occupied, and 90% in Greater Minnesota.
Nearly 200 schools reported outbreaks last week, and two long-term care facilities.