Flu claims the life of another child in Minnesota

A fifth Minnesota child has died from the current influenza outbreak.

Health department epidemiologist Karin Martin declined to say whether the kids who have died had been vaccinated against the flu.

But she said many more children in the state need to get flu shots.

"Most children are not vaccinated from influenza that pass away, you know we wish that more children would get vaccinated," she said.

As far as the overall Minnesota flu outbreak, the health department has downgraded its severity from "widespread" to "regional."

That means flu is no longer spreading throughout the state, Martin said.