Minnesota’s flu season is intensifying, with twice as many people hospitalized this past week as the week before, and a fatality has now been reported. The victim was a man in his 60s who had underlying health problems. There were 47 cases of schools reporting flu outbreaks over the past week as well, which is nearly four times the number of schools as the week before. In the local area, schools in McLeod, Brown, Watonwan and Martin Counties reported outbreaks. The number of patients hospitalized with influenza in Minnesota jumped from 30 to 65, and the number of long-term care facilities reporting outbreaks also doubled, from 3 to 6 last week. Since October, 165 people in Minnesota have been hospitalized with confirmed cases of influenza.