Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
King County has its first cases of novel coronavirus, including one death. More cases have been identified in the U.S. Although the risk is increasing, there are ways to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus and decrease your risk of getting sick.
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Update October 3, 2019 – Public Health officials continue to be concerned about increases in fentanyl overdose deaths in King County, driven by fentanyl found in counterfeit pills and in powders. As we reported below, between mid-June and mid-September 2019, there have been 141 suspected and confirmed drug overdose deaths. Since September 26, 2019, there […]
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In the US, more people now die each year from drug overdoses than died at the peak of the AIDS epidemic, more than died during the entire Vietnam War. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age, and the epidemic cost the US an estimated $117 billion in 2017 alone. Here are some key findings from our report and my perspective on actions we need to take in order to see this epidemic come under control.
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If we’re ever asked to consider that we might die someday, most of us probably hope it’s at home or doing something we love. For people experiencing homelessness in King County, 72 percent die in unfortunate public places, ranging from crawl spaces under buildings, to parked cars, to public parks. In 2017, the King County […]
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Last year, 14,373 people died in King County. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office (MEO) investigated those deaths that were sudden, unexpected or unnatural – 2,494* in total. But, the count of life lost is more than a number. By tracking and analyzing different manners of death as well as trends in homicides, traffic fatalities, […]
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