(Toledo, OH) A Lucas County toddler is among the first children to die of flu-related complications in Ohio. State health officials say 18-month-old Nathaniel Downey died Monday at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center.
A Dayton-area boy became the state's first pediatric flu death this past weekend. Doctors are urging people to vaccinate themselves and their children.
Meantime, Northwest Ohio hospitals are reporting a spike in patients with flu symptoms.
ProMedica and Mercy Health officials say their emergency rooms are being overrun by flu cases and their beds are getting full.
Both healthcare companies are encouraging people who think they have the flu to go to urgent care facilities, where wait times are typically shorter and allow ER physicians to handle actual emergency cases.