Seattle Faces a Pandemic: Part 2 of “Pandemic in Seattle”

September 13, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

We present the second installment of a 4-part comic strip commemorating the centennial of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Stay tuned in to the Public Health Insider to see a new chapter each week this month! This comic strip series, illustrated by David Lasky and written by Meredith Li-Vollmer, commemorates the centennial of the Great Pandemic of […]

Seattle a Century Ago: Pandemic in Seattle, Part 1

September 6, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

One hundred years ago this fall a terrible influenza outbreak arrived in King County and Washington state, part of a pandemic that had spread around the globe. Just ten years ago, artist David Lasky and I created our first comic book together, No Ordinary Flu, that told what happened in the United States during the […]

Flu Update: Just how bad has it been in King County?

February 8, 2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

Copious media coverage has described the unusually widespread and severe flu season nationally. But what has it been like in our region? We checked in with Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Immunization, to find out the current status of flu locally. What’s happening now and how do you […]

Does Australia’s flu vaccine effectiveness translate here?

December 7, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

How well each season’s flu vaccine works to prevent illness varies from season to season, depending on the match between the flu viruses the vaccine is designed to protect against and the flu viruses that are circulating when the flu season arrives. Recent news coverage about a study done in Australia related to the effectiveness […]

Why now is a good time for a flu shot

November 17, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

With the holidays drawing near, many of us look forward to travel or seeing family and friends. And just as our schedules get busier, it’s also the time of year when the flu starts to circulate. We turned to Libby Page, manager of our immunizations program, to get the scoop on flu vaccine . Why […]

Spike in King County flu cases

January 3, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Influenza is hitting hard in King County. We caught up with Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County, to get his take on the flu season so far. What kind of levels of flu are you seeing in King County right now? Over the past two weeks we’ve seen […]