Mississippi’s flu season is catching its second wind. The statewide flu rate is now at its highest level of the season. The Health Department, in its latest update for the week ending Jan. 25, said more than 1,100 patients in about 70 doctors’ offices across Mississippi had flu-like symptoms– a flu rate of 8.7 per cent. That’s almost a full percentage point higher than what we saw at the end of 2024. Flu cases decreased during the first two weeks of January, suggesting that the season might have peaked. But for the last two weeks, the trend has been headed in the other direction. And Mississippi is back up to the second-highest level on the CDC’s flu map.
The good news is that fewer cases are being reported locally. In the public health district which includes Attala and Holmes counties, the flu rate is still the highest in the state at 24 per cent but that’s down from 37 per cent the week before. In the district which includes Leake and Neshoba counties, it’s about seven per cent, dropping from around ten per cent.
