A major flu outbreak in the city last year had Grady bringing in a mobile hospital, it's back again this year.
Thursday morning at 7 am the MED-1 mobile hospital will open and start seeing patients with flu. Dr. Hany Atallah, chief of Emergency Medicine at Grady Hospital says, “it really helps us get to our patients more quickly." The unit is in the hospital parking lot. It will be there for at least a month, longer if needed.
Last year about a hundred people visited the mobile E-R. They expect to see about the same this year. Dr. Atallah says, "it doesn't seem like the patients are quite as sick as last year, but it's still early and the verdict is still out about how it's going to go."
Based on new information from the Georgia Department of Health, there have been five flu-related deaths so far in the state.
It is mostly Influenza A that doctors are seeing this year. Symptoms include fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, congestion, runny nose, headaches, and fatigue.