King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin held a public briefing on December 15, providing updates on COVID-19 and vaccination trends in King County, as well as our evolving understanding of the Omicron variant. 

Dr. Duchin put the new threat from Omicron, as well as our continued struggle with the predominant Delta variant, into perspective. 

The emergence of Omicron is a disappointing setback in where we had hoped to be two years into this pandemic. The virus clearly does not care about our hopes or expectations. Despite this, we are not going back to square one of the pandemic … Over time, increasing immunity from vaccination and exposure to the virus will make COVID-19 less and less of a threat. For now, we should expect more Omicron cases over the coming days and weeks, and take whatever extra precautions we can to reduce the risk to individuals and our community.

DR. JEFF DUCHIN, HEALTH OFFICER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH – SEATTLE & KING COUNTY