Having heard of a few H1N1 cases on the hill, we contacted the Seattle-King County Health Department for statistics on Capitol Hill. James Apa, a Public Information Officer from the Health Department, responded:

We’re not recommending  virus testing for most people, so we wouldn’t be able to provide meaningful statistics for any specific neighborhoods.

We do have other ways of monitoring  influenza activity across King County, including by reviewing hospitalizations for influenza, flu symptom reports at emergency rooms and absenteeism at local schools.  I’d encourage you to take a look at our flu surveillance pages.

In terms of vaccine availability, all health care providers are facing shortages because of the national delay in vaccine production. We’re working to get the limited amounts of vaccine we do have to providers to vaccinate their patients most in need. All local health care providers are experiencing shortages, but many people most in need of vaccine will have the opportunity to receive vaccine in the coming weeks. Including this week’s shipments, the cumulative amount of vaccine received in King County since deliveries started several weeks ago will be about 90,000 doses by October 30. We’re expecting vaccine availability to gradually improve as more vaccine is shipped in future weeks.

For more updates, people can visit our web pages at  or call the Flu Hotline at 877-903-KING (5464), staffed Monday-Friday, 9 am – 5 pm to answer questions, including nursing staff to provide support and advice for people with the flu.  Recorded information is available 24 hours.

Here’s the latest update from the ‘surveillance’ page:

Several indicators continue to show rising influenza activity in King County. Emergency department visits for influenza-like illness have been increasing since the beginning of September and now exceed levels observed during the spring H1N1 outbreak. Hospital admits for 2009 H1N1 flu also currently exceed levels seen at the height of the spring outbreak. Clinics that are part of Public Health’s outpatient surveillance system show an increase in both the number of specimens and the percentage of positive tests for influenza; levels of both are unusually high for this time of year. Local hospital laboratories have reported increased requests for rapid flu testing, and an increased proportion testing positive for flu. School absenteeism has been increasing in recent weeks across all age groups. However, information from past school years is not yet available for most school districts, so it usually cannot be determined whether the observed absenteeism is abnormal for this time of year.