They took the crown from Texas. Great job, everybody!
The record-breaking measles outbreak in South Carolina continues to grow with 89 new cases reported since the last update on Friday.
This brings the total number of cases in the outbreak to 789.
At least 557 people are currently in quarantine across the state, including students from various schools.
This is South Carolina’s largest measles outbreak in over 30 years, a spokesperson for the state’s health department told ABC News.
There have been at least 416 confirmed measles cases across the United States so far this year, the latest CDC data shows.
CDC data shows that the majority of cases occur among people under 19. About 2% of all measles cases in the U.S. have been hospitalized.
Dr. Kristin Moffitt, an infectious diseases physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, previously told ABC News she is “very alarmed” by the increase in measles cases in the U.S. over the last year or two.
“I’m very worried about our current year already,” she told ABC News. “Exceeding 2,000 cases in the last year is indeed alarming [and] … I am worried that even our current year is off to a very concerning start.”
Moffitt said that declining vaccination rates across the U.S. are behind the recent increase in measles cases.
“This is entirely due to declining vaccination rates,” she said. “It’s very clear based on where these outbreaks are occurring.”
It just took a week for South Carolina to more than close the remaining gap with Texas, and that outbreak is still raging. But don’t worry, RFK Jr is on top of it.
Yet despite that recent experience [with Texas], the Department of Health and Human Services insisted last month that this time wouldn’t be that bad.
In a December 16 email to Mother Jones, at which time South Carolina already had more than 100 cases, a spokesperson from HHS downplayed the threat of measles in South Carolina. “CDC is not currently concerned that this will develop into a large, long-running outbreak as was seen in Texas earlier this year and whose outbreak has been declared over,” wrote HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard in bold text.
When I followed up on Tuesday this week to ask for comment on those earlier predictions, a spokesperson did not address my question but instead stated that “CDC is working closely with South Carolina health officials, including through regular coordination meetings.” The spokesperson added that the agency had provided $1.4 million in financial assistance to the state, and that “most cases are occurring in an under vaccinated immigrant community in the Spartanburg area.”
In an emailed statement, South Carolina state epidemiologist Linda Bell wrote that DPH was currently collaborating with CDC on surveillance, testing, reporting, and outbreak control measures. “Due to the fact that measles has been rare in the U.S. for over twenty years, we have benefitted from [CDC] experts,” she wrote.
In her December email to Mother Jones, HHS’ Hilliard insisted that “Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr.] has been very clear that vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles. Any attempts to spin this are baseless.”
In the email this week, the HHS spokesperson reiterated that “vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent measles, and the Secretary has been clear and consistent on this point.”
Yet at the height of Texas’ measles outbreak last year, Kennedy speculated that the measles vaccination had harmed children in that state. He also falsely claimed that officials “don’t know what the risk profile” is for vaccines that prevent measles.
In a press conference last week, CDC principal deputy director Ralph Abraham said of South Carolina’s outbreak, “We have these communities that choose to be unvaccinated,” he said. “That’s their personal freedom.” If the United States loses its measles elimination status, he added, that’s the “cost of doing business.”
I don’t think I can add anything that could better sum up who and what these people are than that. Get your kids vaccinated as any sane person would, and have your doctor verify your own immunity level with measles – especially for some late Boomer/elder Gen X folks who may have only gotten one shot as a kid, it’s best to be sure and to get a booster if it’s warranted. These outbreaks are the new normal, so protest yourselves while you can.
UPDATE: And now there’s this.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement halted “all movement” at a detention center in Texas for families and quarantined some migrants there after medical staff confirmed two detainees had “active measles infections,” the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday.
But don’t worry, I’m sure they’re fully equipped to handle this carefully and thoroughly.