Measles continues spread with exposure at grocery stores, medical offices, temple open house

Key Points:

• The Utah Department of Health and Human Services is actively updating measles exposure locations, including public venues like schools, a temple open house, and grocery stores, to help prevent further spread of the highly contagious virus.
• Measles can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left a location, and exposed individuals are advised to monitor symptoms for 21 days, with early signs including cough and runny nose before the characteristic rash.
• Vaccination remains the best protection against measles; although some vaccinated individuals have contracted the virus, their cases tend to be less severe and less contagious. The health department is encouraging early vaccination for infants aged 6 to 12 months and early second doses for children over one year under certain conditions.
• Wastewater testing shows widespread presence of measles across Utah, except for minimal detection in the Weber-Morgan Health District, which has had the fewest cases; nearly half of all cases are concentrated in the Southwest Utah health district where the outbreak began.
• Since the outbreak began last year, Utah has reported 486 measles cases, with 107 cases in the past three weeks and nearly two-thirds of infections occurring in children under 18 years old.