Public Health reopens Discovery Park beaches after West Point emergency bypass
Public Health – Seattle & King County on Monday afternoon reopened North and South beaches at Discovery Park. These two beaches were closed Friday in an abundance of caution after a West Point...
View ArticlePublic Health warns King County residents about severe lung disease...
Updated as of September 11, 2019: We have updated this information on September 11, 2019 here. Public Health has confirmed one case of vaping-related severe lung disease. The blog post below was...
View ArticleDeathcap Mushroom Season is here: Mushroom foragers should take extreme care
Watch out, mushroom foragers. Fall rains bring blooms of Amanita phalloides, better known as the death cap mushroom. They are common in Western Washington, and were found recently on the University...
View ArticleData Dive: Non-fatal shooting data available from Public Health
Editorial note: This is our third blog post dedicated to explaining data releases about firearm deaths and injuries in King County and Seattle. You can access our firearm injury data products here....
View ArticleKing County influenza update
Based on monitoring of influenza-like illness levels at King County emergency departments and results of laboratory tests for flu, it looks like this season’s influenza B outbreak has peaked. Even so,...
View ArticleCoronavirus and Quarantine: a Q & A with our Health Officer
Public Health - Seattle & King County Health Officer Jeff Duchin answers questions about the federal quarantine measures. The post Coronavirus and Quarantine: a Q & A with our Health Officer...
View ArticlePlanning for a Novel Coronavirus Outbreak: What You Can Do to Prepare at...
The outbreak of novel coronavirus continues to grow in China and cases have been reported from multiple other countries. Widespread transmission is still limited to China and has not been reported from...
View ArticleMedical Examiner’s Office identifies a man 35 years after his death in a...
After 35 years of wondering, a family finally has answers to what happened to their loved one who had been missing for more than three decades. And the King County Medical Examiner’s Office is finally...
View ArticlePublic Health confirms four new COVID-19 cases, bringing overall total to 14;...
On Sunday, March 1, Executive Constantine signed a Proclamation of Emergency in response to COVID-19, enabling “extraordinary measures” to fight the outbreak, including waiving some procurement...
View ArticleTB evaluation at the University of Washington Seattle campus
Public Health – Seattle & King County is following up on a person at the University of Washington Seattle campus who was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB). Public Health is working with the...
View ArticleKing County among the first in the nation to achieve a global milestone in...
King County is among the first major metropolitan regions in the United States – and possibly the first – to reach a major milestone set by the World Health Organization in the fight against the...
View ArticleMumps continue to spread in King County: Know the symptoms
There have been 196 cases of mumps reported in King County since the beginning of the outbreak in late November, with the vast majority of cases in the Auburn area. The number of mumps cases across the...
View ArticlePublic Health’s role in protecting people from water contamination
Picture from Free Press Journal Earlier in February, equipment failures and heavy rains caused King County’s West Point Treatment Plant to divert wastewater into Puget Sound. We sat down with Public...
View ArticleRodents, your car, and hantavirus: What to do if you suspect rodents are...
Here at the Insider, we’ve been talking to Dr. Meagan Kay, Medical Epidemiologist, about the cluster of hantavirus cases that we’ve had in King County over the last several months. Meagan, what is...
View ArticleTuberculosis evaluation at the University of Washington Seattle campus
Public Health – Seattle & King County is following up on a person at the University of Washington Seattle campus who was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB). Public Health is working with the...
View ArticlePhthalates in my mac & cheese?
You may have seen the recent news reports in the New York Times about the presence of plasticizer chemicals, known as phthalates, in boxed macaroni and cheese products. Whipped up in minutes, boxed...
View ArticleSpray what? Tips for good hygiene at spray parks
Anyone with a kid – or anyone who was once a child – knows the joy of cooling off in a public spray park on a hot and sticky summer day. They are a great way for pre-swimmers and swimmers alike to have...
View ArticleRABID BAT FOUND AT BALLARD INTERSECTION
A rabid bat was found at the intersection of NW 73rd and 8th Ave NW in the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard on August 22nd. If you had any contact with a bat at this intersection on Tuesday or...
View ArticlePreventing a hepatitis A outbreak in King County
Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by a highly contagious virus. A large outbreak in San Diego, along with outbreaks in Los Angeles and in Salt Lake City has Public Health officials concerned that a...
View ArticleMore syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia in King County
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are on the rise across the U.S. and Washington and King County data show a similar trend towards more syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. Bottom line: We need to...
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