SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL - A Santa Rosa County man has died from the swine flu.

It's the first death in that county, and the first of someone who lived in our immediate area.

The Santa Rosa County Health Department is not releasing many details, but we do know it was a 52-year-old man who died September 11.

He was admitted to the hospital on September 4.

Channel Three's Laurie Bernstein has that story.

Many here in Santa Rosa County didn't think that swine flu would ever hit hard in this community, but now with one man dead, they realize it can't be taken lightly any longer.

"Oh my God."

"Scary, terrifying."

"Now it's hitting close to home."

It's shocking to hear for these Santa Rosa County residents: one of their own, dead from the H1N1 virus.

For Devon Kennington and her mother Katherine White, the news brings about worries for the health of their family.

"It's scary, I have a baby, five months, pregnant, shocking. I knew people had it but it's just shocking."

Lisa Vergoth and her mother Carolyn Schembri moved to Santa Rosa from New York. They never expected the swine flu to get this bad in such a small area.

"I'm like, 'oh, it's swine flu, we are in the middle of nowhere, how bad can it possibly be?' But i guess it really is."

"For someone to die in Santa Rosa County is very shocking."

But according to the CDC, swine flu is considered to be widespread in both Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties. Only 19 counties in the state have that distinction.

Many we talked to admitted they didn't really understand the possible repercussions.

"I think a lot of people didn't take it seriously. I was skeptical myself."

"More of a thing, you hear a storm coming, you don't think you'll catch it till you see it."

But now, their views are changing.

"I've got to get vaccinated."

"Planning on getting him one, now I'm making sure we have ours."

"Hopefully they will take it to heart because I'd hate to lose someone over the flu."

Health officials tell us he had some pre-existing health conditions including hypertension and acid reflux disease.

They cannot say in this case if those conditions contributed to the death.

The last swine flu death near us was back in August, when a 21-year-old Walton County man died at Sacred Heart Hospital.

This latest death brings Florida's swine flu death toll to 92.Santa Rosa Residents React to Swine Flu Death