by The Tuolumne County Ministry of Health confirmed two measles cases a day on Wednesday after an investigation of the possible infections.
The department said the cases concerned an adult and a child under the age of 18 who lived in the same household and had traveled internationally. It is unclear whether the people were vaccinated against measles, a very contagious and potentially fatal disease that was most often associated with a high fever and rash.
On Tuesday, the department gave that it examined the cases for measles and warned before the Summerville High School in Tuolumne before the Summerville High School in Tuolumn before March 10 and March 11.
“We understand that there may be a lot of questions and concerns. The investigation will still take and we will provide updates as soon as they are available,” said Michelle Jachetta, the district’s public health director, in a statement on Wednesday in which the cases have been confirmed. “We would like to remind the public that measles is a very contagious disease and take steps to protect yourself and your family by ensuring the current vaccination status for measles, monitoring the symptoms and staying at home when you feel sick.”
Michael Merrill, superintendent of the Summerville Union High School District, also gave this week an explanation in which the district “takes the health and security of its students, personnel and our community seriously” and that the school would “work together through the process of determining a risk”. According to the website, more than 430 students visit Summerville High School.
The cases of Tuolumne County come in the middle of a deadly measles outbreak that started in the South Plains and Panhandle region in Texas in January, and has since infected 279, which the vast majority of more than 300 confirmed cases in 15 states. A child who is not vaccinated at school in Texas died of the disease in February.
The California Ministry of Public Health reported on Thursday that at least eight confirmed measles cases were in the state this year. You have not published the locations of cases.
Read more: Master exposure to lax in the middle of growing cases in the USA as you can protect yourself
Tuolumne County reported, according to data published this week by the State Ministry of Health, some of the state’s lower vaccination rates in the school year 2023-2024.
Only 89.8% of Tuolumne County kindergartens were up to date with all of their vaccinations, compared to 93.7% of kindergarten teachers nationwide. And only 93.1% of the kindergarten teachers had both doses of their measles, mumps and rubella, which are much lower than the nationwide 96.2%. As a rule, California publishes the vaccination rates for a handful of grades, including kindergarten, first class and seventh grade.
Experts in public health say that a vaccination rate of 95%, which is sometimes referred to as “herdish”, is generally regarded as a gold standard for the prevention of diseases. A slip of one or two percentage points can create an opportunity for the spread of diseases, which means that the vast majority of children are vaccinated, that they can only take a few cases in an area in which the immunization rates have decreased under 95%to trigger an outbreak.
Read more: Less California kindergarten students immunized measles last year, as new data show
Last year California recorded a decline in the kind of kindergarten teachers who were immunized against measles, despite strict laws that make it difficult for parents to skip shots for their children. This includes 16 counties in which the immunization of measles had fallen under the threshold of herdness.
An increase in vaccine hesitation in recent years in connection with a widespread disinformation online and an increasing political division could make it even more difficult to promote immunization, said former Senator Richard Pan, a Sacramento democrat that wrote California vaccination law.
“We seem to go in the wrong direction,” said Pan. “We felt pretty comfortable how ‘we’re okay.’ But we suddenly prove that it is not okay.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
