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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Model suggesting Washington's hospitals could withstand a COVID-19 surge may be too optimistic, experts say
A new model suggesting that Washington state's hospitals could weather the worst of the coronavirus crisis has received widespread attention. But experts caution that the model, created by the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, only looks at the best-case scenario: what could happen if social distancing measures successfully suppress the transmission of the coronavirus.
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'Difficult and frustrating': Home schooling in Washington when you have no home
Eight-year-old Mariana Aceves does all her homework on her bed these days — because there’s nowhere else to be. The bed fills the entire tiny home she shares with her mom, Lorena.
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A race you can run while social distancing
Spring is usually a busy time for marathons, half marathons, and other races.
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4 new coronavirus cases at Seattle-area homeless shelters
There are now four confirmed cases, in four separate shelters.
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King County readies new quarantine sites for COVID-19 cases
A parking lot down the street from Bellevue’s Eastgate Transit Center is currently surrounded by chicken wire fencing and blackberry brambles. It’s littered with metal barrels. But, within about a week, this parking lot will have a tent with flooring and heating. It's where people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 can stay.
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King County leases Issaquah motel in search for new quarantine sites
King County is looking for places to house hundreds of people, at least, who cannot self-isolate or quarantine in their own homes. A county spokesperson says officials could announce their next planned facility this weekend.
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'Our faith is most tested': Believers in Seattle area face challenge of coronavirus
The outbreak of coronavirus is challenging people of faith around the Seattle area.
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Vertical farming tries to bring crops to urban consumers in Seattle region
In a Kirkland QFC, herbs and greens are growing inside what looks like a big refrigerator lit with soft purple light.
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Amazon employees say they've been warned about speaking out on climate change
Maren Costa says she’s been proud to work for Amazon for 15 years. So she says she was surprised when she was warned that she could be fired for speaking out about the company’s policies on climate change.
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Seattle Archdiocese settles sexual abuse case from 1960s
The Seattle Archdiocese says it’ll pay $250,000 to settle a sexual abuse case from the 1960s.