Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
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, influenza B activity remains elevated at a relatively high level and is likely to continue circulating in our community for many weeks. “It’s good […]
Read MoreEditorial 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. Previous posts focused on firearm homicide and firearm suicide. Firearm injuries are a substantial public health issue for our community, causing preventable suffering […]
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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 of Washington Seattle campus. The death cap mushroom has no distinctive odor or taste and resembles other nontoxic varieties. Consumption of the Amanita […]
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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 published on August 30, 2019. Health Alert from Dr. Jeff Duchin – Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County As […]
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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 sewage bypass into Puget Sound. Water quality tests conducted over the past three days have all come back under the state standard. […]
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NOTE: All exposure locations in King County, including those from previous cases in 2019, are updated at kingcounty.gov/measles/cases. Public Health – Seattle & King County is investigating a new confirmed measles case with possible public exposures. The King County resident, a teenager, visited the Auburn Community Center while infectious before receiving the diagnosis of measles. […]
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