Georgia ranked as sickest state in U.S.

ATLANTA (CBS46) - As the flu outbreak continues to grip the nation, a healthcare company has named Georgia as the sickest state in the U.S.

The company, called "Kinsa" tracks symptoms using information uploaded when people use their smart thermometers. The company estimates that seven percent of Georgia's population is sick with the flu.

With over 10 million people living in the state, that works out to about 715,000.

For the past three years, the data has been in line with CDC statistics.

"It's really really accurate so we are just starting that process with this first academic publication. We'll start chatting with public health officials and the CDC but we hope that the CDC can use this system. That's why we designed it," says Inder Singh with Kinsa. 

So far, the flu has claimed 50 lives in Georgia, including a 5 year-old boy in Cobb County and a 15 year-old girl in Coweta County.

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