How do you feel? Many Tennessee residents are suffering from flu symptoms!

In fact, statistics from the Center for Disease Control shows that Tennessee is currently the sickest state in the country with 4.9 per cent of the population (about 285,000 people) experiencing flu-like symptoms. That's a 93% increase over this time last year.

Chattanooga is the sickest city in the country with nearly 50,000 residents reporting flu-like symptoms. The national illness level is down about 3% this week, but there remains over 9.8-million people sick across the USA.

This data is from Kinsa, a company that is accurately seeing where flu-like illness is spreading in real time with the help of their smart thermometers. Kinsa has collected more than 10-million anonymous temperature readings, averaging 40,000 per day last flu season. The Kinsa Insights team, is now able to track outbreaks of the flu in real-time by studying aggregate data of where fever and other symptoms are popping up around the country.

Some points of interest:

1. While national illness is down nearly 3% over last week, Tennesseans are the sickest in the country, with 4.9% (over 285,000 people) experiencing flu-like symptoms.
2. Chattanooga is being hit the hardest with 4.9 percent (or 49,000 community residents) experiencing flu-like symptoms. This is a 94% increase over this same week last year.
3. Only 1.7% of Americans were sick this time last year, today 3.0% are experiencing flu-like symptoms, a 54% increase over this week last year.

Prevention:

Reduce your risk of getting the flu with the following procedures that you have heard many times before:

1. Wash your hands vigorously throughout the day, using soap and warm water.
2. Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing.
3. Avoid close contact with others.