Winter is coming, and it’s bringing some colds — but Kitsap is seeing higher rates of some colds than others.
The Kitsap Public Health District checked in on local disease trends, its development priorities and the upcoming legislative session at its board meeting Dec. 3.
As a flurry of respiratory illnesses continues to rise around the nation, Kitsap health officer Dr. Gib Morrow shared that the county has mostly bucked the trend. The common flu and RSV rates are low, he said, and COVID is at its lowest level since March 2020.
The year-end holiday season is typically followed by an uptick in transmissible infections, due to the increased rate of travel. Thanksgiving may not have been a superspreader event, but Kitsap is not out of the woods yet, Murrow said.
“Some early indicators are showing that those two viral infections are poised to take off, and when they do, it happens quite rapidly,” Morrow said. “I’m expecting Christmas and New Year’s may have a higher respiratory risk, but so far so good this year.”
However, pertussis, or whooping cough, is at its highest level in decades. A “handful” of cases have affected some Kitsap schools, which KPHD is working to control. A county communicable disease team is providing antibiotics to household members of residents who have a confirmed case of pertussis as a preventative measure.
“This treatment will help contain the spread and keep newborn babies from getting sick, because it can be quite severe and even fatal in the very young,” Morrow said.
There are also a few scattered cases of pneumonia, one new case of tuberculosis, and one case of Legionnaires disease in a large skilled nursing facility.
Board members of KPHD also approved the 2025 budget at the meeting: $19.7 million, with a $14.8 million fund balance. However, the district has not yet completed its staff contract negotiations, which means the numbers are subject to change, administrator Yolanda Fong said.
Finally, the district heard a presentation on its development updates from policy analyst Adrienne Hampton.
Earlier this year, KPHD set a goal to improve county residents’ access to healthcare and to reinforce the existing healthcare infrastructure to the state average by 2028. To accomplish that, the county plans to do more outreach, increase workforce housing for county healthcare professionals and encourage Kitsap students to pursue medicine as a career.
Hampton said that her team recommends that KPHD seek to engage high school career counselors to understand how students are learning about healthcare employment opportunities, and where barriers to mentorship may be.
KPHD board members were intrigued. “What shocked us when I was on the Central Kitsap school board was that students were so interested in becoming EMS,” board member Drayton Jackson said. “It opened a door: now EMS is working with the school district to provide opportunities there.”
