View full sizeIn this Dec. 4, 2011, file photo, Anna Lane, 11, grimaces as Santa tricks her into thinking he is going to give her a flu shot during a Toys for Shots event at the Greater Mobile Urgent Care on Schillinger Road in Mobile, Alabama. Mobile residents apparently aren't getting enough real flu shots and are getting flu enough to make it to No. 3 on a list of the top 20 sickest cities in the United States, as compiled by The Daily Beast website. (Press-Register/Chip English)
MOBILE, Alabama -- The Daily Beast website has reviewed health-related data and ranked Mobile as the No. 3 city on a list of 20 metropolitan areas worst-hit by the flu.
Dayton, Ohio, came in No. 1 on
the list. Aside from Mobile, no other Alabama cities made the list.
To make its rankings, The Daily Beast used 4 data points:
- 30 percent weighting was given to a health ranking by SDI, a healthcare analytics organization. The SDI ranking is based on the percentage of positive influenza tests in 75 large U.S. markets.
- 10 percent for statewide vaccination coverage, that being the percentage of people age 65 and younger that have seasonal influenza vaccination coverage as of January 2010, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.
- 30 percent for influenza and pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people, based on CDC data.
- 30 percent for estimated flu activity for the remainder of the flu season.
Other regional cities making the list: Tampa, Florida (No. 2); Jacksonville, Florida (No. 5); Miami, Florida (No. 6); Atlanta, Georgia (No. 10); Dallas, Texas (No. 14; Orlando, Florida (No. 16); and Houston, Texas (No. 18).
