Several Southern California hospitals have begun using overflow tents outside emergency rooms to cope with a rising number of patients with flu and other respiratory illnesses. The San Diego-Union Tribune reported Friday that overflow tents were put up at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla and Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa to handle an increase in respiratory illness. Scripps hospitals and doctor's offices reported 1,695 positive flu tests since Sept. 1, up from 471 during the same time period one year ago.