Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Flu outbreak forces Columbia hospital to add temporary space

An influx of patients sick with the flu in the Midlands has prompted a Columbia-area hospital to add a mobile unit to help with additional patient volume.

Palmetto Health Richland will use a “temporary mobile medical unit” starting Thursday to help expedite patient discharges, said Tammie Epps, spokeswoman for the hospital.

38 more people in South Carolina died from the flu; virus showing no signs of slowing down

Another 38 South Carolinians have died from the flu, the state health department reported Wednesday, bringing the total this season to 84 deaths in the state.

To make matters worse, the latest flu report offers no evidence the virus is slowing down.

At the Roper St. Francis Express Care in Summerville on Wednesday morning, 27 patients needed medical treatment within the first few hours of the clinic’s opening. Twenty of them had the flu.

SC flu-related deaths nearly double in one week

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control say 84 people have now died from the flu since the start of the season, nearly double the number of reported deaths from last week.

Those numbers are as of January 27. Just last week, the number of flu-related fatalities was 46.

Of the 84 total deaths, 38 of them occurred between Jan. 21 and Jan. 27, according to DHEC.

SC flu fatalities soar past 80 in deadliest week yet for Palmetto State

This flu season continues to inflict severe damage in South Carolina.

In the past week, the number of reported flu-related deaths has almost doubled, as 38 more deaths have been reported by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Lowcountry school districts report higher absentee numbers as flu cases rise

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – Lowcountry doctors are seeing an increase in patients, and schools are seeing an increase in absences.

For the month of January, all the Roper St. Francis hospitals and physicians saw 2,660 cases of the flu. Trident Health saw 677 flu patients during the month.

With the high flu numbers, it’s leaving a lot of empty chairs in our local schools.