State officials have reported 11 confirmed measles cases so far this year, predominantly in Utah County and the southwest corner of the state surrounding St. George. Despite the lack of cases along the Wasatch Back, the Summit County Health Department aims to be as proactive as possible to educate community members about the virus and prevent a large-scale epidemic, especially with students returning to school in the next few weeks.
“I’ve been posting any public exposures that are in Utah as well, just kind of reminding people if you have been traveling and you have some symptoms or you’re worried about your risk, it doesn’t hurt to go back and check the website of the state that you were visiting to see if there were any exposures where you may have been recreating or doing something, visiting family or something like that,” explained county epidemiologist Nancy Porter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which updates its website weekly with the latest information on measles outbreaks in the U.S., reported a total of 1,356 cases across 41 states on Wednesday. Approximately 92% of those infected are unvaccinated.
“By having two shots of MMR, you’re 97% covered for measles,” Porter said, referring to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. “We’ve been trying to make sure that people know that the vaccine works, and it provides great protection against measles. We’re trying to make sure that people know what symptoms to look out for because this isn’t really a disease that a lot of people have dealt with in a long time.”
The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000 after a 20-year effort to improve vaccination rates throughout the 1980s and 1990s, according to the CDC. However, the country is at risk of losing its elimination status if the current outbreaks continue to spread for more than 12 months, Porter said.
“This is a safe vaccine. It’s been around for a very long time,” she added. “We’re trying to really make people understand that the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself from measles. Sometimes measles will just be a mild illness, but it can also cause serious health complications. This past year, we’ve seen three deaths from measles in the United States, and we haven’t had deaths from measles in so long. It is preventable.”
Approximately 92% of students in Summit County are vaccinated, which is the best way to estimate vaccination rates, according to Porter. However, herd immunity for measles requires a vaccination rate of 95%.
Porter additionally encouraged people who were vaccinated in other states to obtain copies of their immunization records and send them into the Health Department. That way, if there is an outbreak or reported measles case in Summit County, health officials will know whether someone with a potential exposure is at high risk based on their vaccination status.
The local Health Department is also coordinating with the state on wastewater testing, similar to checks done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to determine infection levels and the severity of the viral spread. Unlike the coronavirus, though, wastewater testing for measles will only tell health officials where measles is present, not how many cases there are.
“During that infectious period is most likely when you’re shedding the virus that we can detect in the wastewater, so it’s four days before a rash shows up,” Porter explained. “Now, the state of Utah is starting to test all of our 35 different locations. They’ve started doing the testing, and it’s just a matter of getting those results together in a public format to be able to present.”
Summit County has three locations that will be testing wastewater for measles, and Porter said she expects the state to create an online dashboard with information from the testing like it did during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You can’t really narrow it down to a person or a household or anything like that, but within that wastewater area, you can tell that there is at least some measles. That could be someone just passing through or it could be a resident or someone here on vacation,” Porter said. “But what it does help us do is let our residents and visitors know that there have been measles in the area and to make sure … if you start having symptoms to not just brush it off as like, ‘Oh, it might just be allergies.’”
The Health Department also worked with all three school districts this week — Park City, North Summit and South Summit — on strategies to prevent the spread of measles and how to respond if a student contracts the virus.
“It was a great way to get ahead of it and identify some of these gaps and worries and find them now before we have cases show up and really walk through what our understanding is of what we will handle and what we’ll need from the schools,” Porter said. “It was a fantastic meeting where we collaborated on creating a blueprint for how we’re going to handle the situation.”
Porter added that Utah has had a “disease plan” to combat a measles outbreak for years, which helped the Health Department and area school districts determine the best course of action for the Wasatch Back. The 29-page document, which was last updated in July 2019, outlines everything health officials need to know about measles from symptoms and testing methods to information about complications and public health control measures.
“It’s a way for us to have an established guideline on how best to protect our community, so we use that to develop a two-page blueprint for how we’ll communicate and work with the schools and handle that when, or if, it arises,” Porter said.
She encouraged anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated to contact the Summit County Health Department for an appointment.
“Once you’re exposed it can take up to three weeks, or 21 days, for symptoms to show, so if you have those protective measures in place with the vaccine, if you’re able, it can really allow you to not miss a beat,” Porter said. “It’s really a great way to protect yourself and the community.”
Porter also posts monthly updates on respiratory illnesses in Summit County, including measles and COVID-19, on the Health Department’s website. However, she said she plans on posting once a week starting in October as school swings back into session and the United States continues to deal with nationwide measles outbreaks during peak respiratory illness months.
Measles is a highly contagious illness with serious complications, especially for children under the age of 5, according to the CDC. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and rashes. It spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and the particles can remain in a room after the infected person leaves for up to two hours.