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Review Finds 14 Additional Flu Deaths This Season

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The 2016–2017 flu season is now Oklahoma’s second-deadliest on record.

A State Health Department death certificate review this week added 14 deaths that happened between February and April to the totals.

"We have 2,394 hospitalizations that have been reported for the season, and we have 110 deaths," said epidemiologist Kendra Dougherty. "And I don't anticipate that the number of deaths will increase much, if at all, unless there's just several other late reports that we find."

The 2014–2015 flu season was Oklahoma’s deadliest on record, with 115 people dying.

"Very comparable in severity, and this was, I would say, a moderately severe season in Oklahoma, as in other states across the country," Dougherty said.

This season, 22 people in Tulsa County died from the flu.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.