Eilís O'Neill
Reporter
About
Eilís is a reporter covering health. She focuses on health inequities, substance use and addiction, infectious diseases, mental health, and reproductive and maternal health.
Eilís came to KUOW in 2016. Before that, she worked as a freelance reporter, first in South America, and then in New York City. Her work has aired on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, APM’s Marketplace, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and other programs.
Eilís' work as part of a team covering Covid-19 outbreaks and vaccine hesitation in Washington won a regional Murrow award, as did a series about children who lost parents to Covid-19. Her series about the opioid crisis on the Olympic Peninsula won several regional Society for Professional Journalists awards as well as a national Public Media Journalists Association award.
Eilís grew up in Seattle and was a high school intern at KUOW, in the program that later became RadioActive. She has a Master's in Science, Health, and Environment Reporting from Columbia University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, Spanish
Pronouns: she/her
Stories
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Inmates asked to sign waiver freeing state prison of liability amid Covid outbreak
Hundreds of people at Stafford Creek Corrections Center— more than a quarter of those incarcerated, and dozens of staff — have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last month.
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'All I want to do is feed my baby': The struggle facing parents of babies who need specialized formula
Alisha Harris is a nail technician who lives in Mill Creek, near Everett. About two weeks ago, she had only a can and a half left of the specialized formula her baby girl Mahaliyah needs. That was enough to last about a week and a half. She knew formula was in short supply, so she started looking for more.
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The pandemic made these seniors rethink the 'years they have left'
Many seniors had planned for their golden years to look one way — time with family, grandchildren, friends — and then the pandemic took that away. Now, they're rethinking how they want to spend their remaining time.
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Colds aren’t just colds. They’re a big driver of pediatric hospitalizations
Colds are back. Kids are getting sick. Some people say that’s a good thing: Kids need to build immunity to common viruses. But it’s more complicated.
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Biden unveils protection plan for old-growth forest during Seattle visit
On Friday, President Joe Biden visited Seattle’s Seward Park to announce and sign an executive order meant to protect old-growth forests on federal lands.
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King County turns to police departments to keep walkers, rollers safe on Hwy 99
King County is getting $120,000 from the state to make Highway 99 safer for non-drivers. But the county isn’t putting in more crosswalks or redesigning the road to slow down traffic. Instead, officials are temporarily putting more police officers on the road.
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Could a psychedelic trip help burned out health care workers cope? This scientist thinks so
Tony Back, an oncologist at the University of Washington, thinks he knows of something that could help health care workers struggling with anxiety and depression: Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms.
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Seattle Now: The Great Unmasking
Masks are off... kind of. Our mask mandate ended this weekend, but are people actually ditching their face coverings? We visit two spots a
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Washington's indoor mask mandate is over. Here's how Seattle is feeling about it.
For the last couple of years, your get-out-the-door routine probably involved checking to see if you had your keys, your wallet, and a face mask.
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What will you do as masking indoors becomes optional?
The statewide indoor mask mandate ends in Washington this weekend. KUOW spoke with several members of the public to get a sense of what they plan to do and how they’re feeling as the pandemic enters this new phase.