The U.S. is currently facing the largest outbreak of measles since the disease was eradicated in 2000. The number of documented cases has risen to 681 as of April 25, 2019, overcoming the previous record of 667 in 2014. All of the 22 states affected are desperately trying to contain the spread, as the behavior by several Los Angeles universities has shown. Since one out of three people say they still go to work when they’re sick, health officials have asked more than 200 hundred students and staff members at UCLA and Cal State L.A. to stay home due to their exposure to the virus.
“One person with a confirmed measles case can expose thousands of people to measles,” said L.A. County public health department director Dr. Barbara Ferrer.
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world. It spreads in moisture droplets caused by coughing and sneezing and can survive in the air for up to two hours after a sick person has left.
Of the five people diagnosed with measles in L.A. County this year, two are students; one at UCLA and one at Cal State. Understandably, county health workers reached out to more than 500 people who may have come into contact with the UCLA student; so far, 79 have not provided medical records proving their vaccinations. At Cal State L.A., 156 library employees — both students and staff members — faced the same problem, forcing the quarantine to go into effect until they were able to show documentation that they had been immunized.
Many people don’t understand how dangerous measles truly is; those unable to get vaccinated due to weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible, and complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain) can cause hospitalization and death even in the healthiest of us. It takes between 10 and 15 years to develop a vaccine, and herd immunity has protected individuals in the past, but it requires a 95% vaccination rate to be successful; as of 2016, only 91.1% of children received their MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) shot. The only way we’ll truly be protected — and the only way these kids can get back to school — is by making sure we are all getting immunized.
