SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Four more Utahns have died from health problems associated with the the swine flu.
Health officials say a total of 12 deaths have been related to swine flu in Utah this flu season which began on September 1st.
4 more deaths have been reported since last week's update. One was a woman over 65 years old in Salt Lake County. Two young women under 24 years old died, one from southwestern Utah and the other in Utah County. A man between 25 and 49 years old died in the Weber-Morgan Health District more than a week ago, but was not reported until this week.
Health officials say the virus continues to spread across Utah and that the number of flu-related illnesses exceeds normal levels for this time of year.
"The picture is a little mixed right now", said Dr. Rachael Herlighy the state epidemiologist. She told ABC4's Ross Becker that it's hard to tell of the potentially deadly flu is peaking in the state, "we look at two main parameters. One is hospitalizations and the other is community circulation. The circulation data certainly suggests that things are still going up, but the hospitalizations data looks like things might be slowing down just a bit".
Herlighy says it's no time to let down your guard, "we expect more flu in the state and there's gonna be more hospitalzations and more deaths."
The Weber-Morgan Health District has started an appointment system for handing out vaccines. This morning health care workers took calls and set up more than 300 appointments for this week Thursday and Friday. Health Department Director Gary House says he thinks it will work great, "it's much more convienient and much more healthy. It's just better customer service than waiting outside in long lines."
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