More indications that the worst part of flu season in Mississippi may be over. The State Health Department, in its latest update, said the statewide flu rate has dropped to 5.3 per cent, the second week in a row that we’ve seen a substantial decrease. Seventy-seven doctors’ offices across the state reported a total of 659 patients with symptoms of the flu for the week ending Jan. 11. Mississippi remains at the fourth-highest level on the CDC’s flu map. At the local level, the public health district which includes Attala and Holmes counties is still seeing a lot of sick people with a flu rate around 17 per cent. In the district which includes Leake and Neshoba counties, it’s dropped to just over six per cent.