The state Department of Health reported “very high” levels of flu statewide between Feb. 23 and March 1.

DOH also reported over 250 flu deaths statewide since Oct. 1, with Influenza A being the most prevalent strain for the 2024-25 season.

As of March 3, 20% of Kitsap County residents are up to date with COVID vaccine for the 2024-25 season, per the DOH vaccine dashboard.

“Both flu and RSV remain high but are trending down. We saw a lot more emergency department visits for flu this season than any season since the COVID-19 pandemic,” Wendy Inouye, communicable disease epidemiologist for Kitsap Public Health District, says in an email. “We also saw a lot of people hospitalized for flu this season, but it never reached levels comparable to COVID-19 hospitalizations during the pandemic.”

COVID-19 is still present in the community, in addition to other respiratory conditions such as whooping cough, she wrote.

“We do not publish sub-county breakouts for respiratory disease data. We monitor and report general respiratory disease trends at the county level,” Dr. Gib Morrow, health officer for KPHD, says in an email. “Overall this season, Kitsap County has experienced similar respiratory illness trends as the state and nation.”

DOH is not collecting voluntary test result data from the public, nor does it require local agencies to collect city-specific data for flu, RSV or COVID-19, per DOH.

“We have experienced a notable increase in patients contacting us or coming in for respiratory illness symptoms, and an especially large increase in both influenza A and B,” Matt Kuffel, operations manager at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health says in an email. “We have also seen patients experience a more severe flu season than in years past, with symptoms lasting several weeks and some patients being diagnosed with pneumonia following an initial respiratory illness.”

VMFH reported 300 patient visits related to respiratory illness at its urgent care clinic on Bainbridge Island in February.

For vaccine information, visit the KPHD vaccine website at kitsappublichealth.org/imms/home or call 360-728-2007.