Residents in north central Idaho have the chance to influence what health and social service programs are available in their community through the end of March. Continue Reading Public health conducting needs survey for north central IdahoRead More
Providers say education, building trust among communities and building out mobile response teams are top priorities Continue Reading Northwest health providers reflect on first anniversary of 988 hotlineRead More
Washington's legislature adjourned its 2023 regular session with a new two-year state budget, alongside dozens of policy changes focused on housing, health care and public safety – and a surprising last-minute bill failure. Continue Read More
The view driving over Memorial Bridge in Lewiston, Idaho. The city is also recommending residents use bottled or cool, boiled water for their pets as a precaution — though Public… Continue Reading Lewiston boil water order stays despite Read More
When the COVID-19 pandemic reached the Inland Northwest almost three years ago, Dr. Max Williams started seeing a change in some of his patients that shocked him: People he had treated successfully for years no longer trusted him. Continue Reading Read More
BFHD Logo Listen (Runtime :54) Read In May, Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill authorizing a change to how health districts are governed starting next year. This change will impact… Continue Reading Benton Franklin Health Read More
More Murrow News Stories As students come back to Pullman, public health officials worry that monkeypox has come with them. “We did see it arrive here in Washington State, and… Continue Reading Public health officials keeping an eye on monkeypoxRead More
Speed boats, tugboats, cruise ships and any other watercraft operating in Puget Sound will soon have to comply with a new federal No Discharge Zone. Continue Reading No More Dumping In Puget SoundRead More
As more states shed their universal mask mandates for those who are vaccinated, many Americans are weighing how much faith to put in the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in the integrity of their unvaccinated peers, who are supposed to follow the rules and keep wearing masks. Read More
The Northeast Tri-County Health District on Friday announced that it has moved Ferry County back a step because of an outbreak, brought upon, at least in part, by two maskless parties at an Eagles’ Lodge in Republic in mid-April. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to soon roll back the economic reopening of more counties because of rising coronavirus cases. Reverting to Phase 2 would force businesses, museums and churches to reduce indoor capacity. Read More
The CDC says people who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask when they're outdoors, unless they're in a crowd, such as attending a live performance, sporting event or parade. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after the single dose Johnson & Johnson shot. Read More
Across the Northwest, many Latinx families are facing similar barriers to getting vaccinated and other issues. Adding to the complexity is powerful misinformation on social media and by word-of-mouth, the recent health concerns over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and religious reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Read More
In a statement released Thursday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky pointed to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, as seen in case numbers, deaths and social consequence. Continue Reading CDC Director Declares Racism A Read More
How to make sure the world is never so devastated by another pandemic? Health officials from around the globe have been vigorously discussing that question over the past week at the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's Executive Board. The members, whose nine-day-long, mostly virtual gathering concludes on Tuesday, have heard recommendations from four separate Read More
As reports emerge across the country of health facilities throwing out unused and spoiled COVID-19 vaccines, some state governments are failing to track the wastage as required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaving officials coordinating immunization efforts blind to exactly how many of the precious, limited doses are going into the trash and why. Read More
While another surge remains possible, especially with new, more infectious variants on the horizon, the number of new daily infections in the current wave appears to have hit a high in the past week or two and has been steadily declining in most states since, the researchers say. Read More
A new Crosscut/Elway Poll of Washington voters conducted between Christmas and New Year’s Eve found 55% intended to get vaccinated, including 37% who were certain to get vaccinated as soon as they could. Eighteen percent said they were very likely to get the vaccine, but 27% said they planned to wait and see and 15% were certain they would not get vaccinated. Read More
Shortly after Thanksgiving, the boy from a secluded valley in Idaho became one of hundreds of children in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with a rare, extreme immune response to COVID-19 called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Cooper Wuthrich’s fever spiked as his joints and organs became inflamed, including his heart, putting his life at risk, his father Read More
It stands to reason that all the stress, anxiety and isolation of the pandemic could lead more people to take their own lives. But newly obtained data for Washington and Oregon show this is one bad thing that 2020 has not delivered. Public health agencies and suicide prevention groups have been keeping an eye out since spring for a possible rise in suicides. Read More
Since early in the pandemic, rapid contact tracing has been considered one of the keys to controlling the spread of the coronavirus. But in recent weeks, an overwhelming surge in new cases has let thousands of COVID-positive people and their close contacts fall through the cracks. Read More
Idaho public health officials abruptly ended a meeting Tuesday after the Boise mayor and chief of police said intense protests outside the health department building — as well as outside some health officials’ homes — were threatening public safety. Read More
The pandemic put a spotlight on health care workers and inspired many to pursue a career in medicine. The record number of applicants comes as the U.S. faces a projected shortage of physicians. Continue Reading ‘Fauci Effect’ Drives Read More
As the number of COVID-19 cases skyrockets nationwide, the extent of the public health response varies from one state — and sometimes one town — to the next. The incongruous approaches and the lack of national standards have created confusion, conflict and a muddled public health message, likely hampering efforts to stop the spread of the virus. The country’s top Read More
The state official and former congressman would enter the job with a historic public health crisis raging. In his current role, Becerra has fought Trump efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Continue Reading Joe Biden Read More
The county health department said Monday night that North Valley Extended Care in Tonasket has recorded 11 deaths. That number includes 32 total residents who have contracted COVID-19. Health officials did not disclose a time frame for the cases and deaths. Two staff members there are hospitalized, according to the health department. Read More
The first COVID-19 vaccines to hit the market will not be approved for use in children. Researchers must figure out if the vaccines are safe and effective in kids. Continue Reading A COVID-19 Vaccine For Children May Still Be Many Months Read More
Lori Freeman calls the loss of top public health officers across the country “steady and alarming.” Freeman heads the National Association of County and City Health Officials. More than 70 have been fired, left or plan to leave their posts since the pandemic began in the U.S. In fact, so many are leaving, she’s keeping a spreadsheet. Read More
The board that governs Idaho’s Panhandle Health District has approved a mask mandate for all five counties of north Idaho. The board had approved a previous mandate for Kootenai County only on July 23, then rescinded it on Oct. 23. Read More
Since 2013, Shah has been executive director of Harris County Public Health in Houston, Texas. He will replace outgoing Secretary John Wiesman who has served in the position since 2013. Previously, Wiesman announced his plan to leave the post at the end of the year to take a teaching job in North Carolina. Read More
More than 11 million confirmed coronavirus cases have been recorded in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. The country recorded 166,555 new cases in the last day and 1,266 new deaths. Continue Reading U.S. Hits 11 Million Read More
"We are today in a more dangerous position than we were in March when our first stay-home order was issued," Gov. Jay Inslee said during a Sunday press conference. "In March, we were heading into the summer months. And we were largely successful relative to other states because of the combination that we acted early we did not wait," he added. Read More
An unreleased CDC review obtained by NPR shows that lab officials knew an early coronavirus test kit had a high failure rate. They decided not to recall it and sent it to the nation's labs anyway. Continue Reading CDC Report: Read More
How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus. Continue Reading Brought To Its Knees By A Pandemic Read More
The U.S. reported more than 55,000 infections Friday, pushing the total number of cases to more than 7 million. Some two dozen states saw new cases continue to rise this past week. Continue Reading COVID-19 Daily Cases On The Rise In Nearly Half Read More
Eight people, at least two of them foreign H-2A farmworkers, have died in the county. Health officials say cases are climbing quickly with nearly 300 confirmed over the last two weeks alone. The county has seen about 800 total cases during the pandemic. Many of the recent cases are in the small town of Brewster, home to a large tree-fruit growing, packing and shipping Read More
With the coronavirus spreading out of control in many parts of the U.S., some experts say the strategy of testing and tracing can't contain the pandemic until lockdowns bring case numbers down. Continue Reading Pandemic Is Read More
How can communities stop coronavirus case surges without crushing the economy? Some scientists say widespread mask wearing may be more than a helpful precaution — it may be the solution. Continue Reading Can Wider Mask Usage Read More
This week Oregon and California took steps to slow or rollback their re-openings, and Washington could be next, Gov. Jay Inslee said. Dramatic growth in COVID cases over the past month has pushed the state over its previous peak in April. Read More
An open letter signed by 239 researchers addressed to the World Health Organization, published Monday in Clinical Infectious Diseases, calls for attention and guidance around a third route of transmission: tiny respiratory particles that float in the air and are called aerosols. They could be responsible for infecting someone who comes along and breathes them in. Read More
Alcohol makes people lose inhibitions. And maybe take off their masks, and get up close and personal. Here's why you may want to reconsider going out this weekend. Or how to stay safe if you do. Continue Reading Planning To Read More
County officials in eastern Washington rushed applications to the state Thursday evening to reopen their economies. It came the same day Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state would approve their plans to reopen and put others on pause for two weeks. Read More
Ultimately, presiding judge Kristin Ferrera sided with the state and did not issue an injunction on the emergency order. She said she didn’t have enough evidence on its current harms to the plaintiffs, representing business owners and individuals in Chelan and Douglas counties. Read More
After weeks of relying on voluntary compliance, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday afternoon announced an enforceable, statewide requirement that people wear face coverings when in public, including outdoors when six feet of separation can't be maintained. The new public health order, to be issued by the Secretary of Health, takes effect on Friday. Read More
Politicians argue. Those opposed to mask mandates protest. But meanwhile, growing evidence shows that mask wearing is a critical tool in curbing the spread of the coronavirus. Continue Reading Yes, Wearing Masks Helps. Here’s Why, And Why You Read More
As of Friday afternoon, 61 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Yakima County. Even though at least another 17 patients were transported out of the county, the region’s major hospital, Virginia Mason Memorial, had completely run out of hospital beds as of Thursday night. Read More
Yakima County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita among West Coast states. The largely Latinx agricultural workforce helped secure the backbone of the local economy. Continue Reading During Pandemic, Yakima Farmworkers Kept Their Read More
The nation still sees more than 20,000 new cases on average a day, a number that's barely budged for weeks. Forecasters say we're looking at tens of thousands more deaths this summer. Continue Reading Coronavirus 2nd Wave? Nope, The U.S. Is Read More
Casinos is Las Vegas are reopening Thursday, after being shuttered for more than two months. Workers there are eager to start getting paid again, but they're also worried about their health. Continue Reading As Casinos Reopen In Read More
Online misinformation is fueling a backlash in some places against coronavirus containment strategies such as contact tracing and isolation. Some health officials have even received violent threats. Continue Reading Read More
