Utah’s summer surge in measles cases seems to be subsiding, but health officials warn of a big event that might change that: The start of a new school year.
The state’s Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that Utah went a fourth week without a new measles case. In all, 11 cases have been reported in Utah this year, all between June 26 and July 21.
In fact, in its Wednesday announcement, the department said it would stop issuing weekly updates of Utah’s measles cases — but “will send out additional messages if/when the situation changes.”
However, health officials warn that the new school year brings the potential of a perfect storm for infectious diseases, as large groups of students come together in person — particularly with vaccination rates among Utah students dropping in the last decade.
Rich Lakin, Utah’s immunization program manager, said that in the 20 years he has dealt with infectious diseases for the state, he has seen his job change from preventing preventable illness to reacting to their infections.
“It used to be, most people were vaccinated, and there were some exemptions, and we just didn’t see these diseases like we used to,” he said.
As the summer ends, Lakin said schools can be ideal locations for infectious diseases to spread, especially ones with low vaccination rates. One such area is the Southwest Utah Public Health District, which he said is like “dry wood in a wildfire.”
Four of the state’s 11 cases were reported in the Southwest Utah district, which covers Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington counties. The other seven were discovered in Utah County.
Even in schools with remarkable low vaccination rates, Amelia Salmanson, the state’s vaccine preventable disease manager, said students can have a low risk of getting the measles — if they’ve had the recommended doses of the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. The department said the MMR is 97% effective at protecting people from measles.
“The MMR vaccine is very good. It is one of the best vaccines that we have,” she said. “Generally, it is very unlikely that someone with those two doses would get measles being around other individuals with measles.”
By the numbers
In Utah, every student enrolled in kindergarten is required to receive certain vaccinations. Among them are two doses of the MMR vaccine.
Last school year, 11.2% of all Utah kindergarteners — and 9.9% of in-person students — were not adequately vaccinated for measles, according to state data.
That’s not the only vaccine kids are forgoing.
Ten years ago, in the 2014-15 school year, 90.2% of in-person kindergarteners in Utah received adequate vaccinations. For the 2024-25 school year, that number dropped to 86.9% statewide — with some parts of the state reporting lower rates.
For all of Utah, counting both in-person and online students, 85.7% were adequately vaccinated for the 2024-25 school year.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
In the Southwest Utah Public Health District, only 78.5% of in-person kindergarteners were considered adequately vaccinated.
More parents are exempting their kids from the requirements. During the 2014-15 school year, just 4.3% of kindergarteners were exempt. Though it rose in following years, it was back down at 5.3% in 2020-21. Last year, it was at 9% for in-person kindergartners and 10.3% when counting students online and in person.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Of the 2024-25 exemptions, the state reports that 84.6% were for personal reasons, and 12.5% for religious beliefs. Consistently, less than 5% of the annual exemptions have been for medical reasons.
Parents can search for specific schools’ vaccination data among kindergarteners and 7th grade students during the 2023-24 school year on the state’s online immunization dashboard. Salmanson recommended parents reach out to their children’s schools or their local health department to better learn their specific plans in case a student is infected with measles.
More measles?
Officials in Texas, where measles killed two children and put nearly 100 in the hospital, declared the outbreak there over on Monday, The New York Times reported — after the state went 42 days, six weeks, without confirming a new case.
The same day, though, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported a new case in Mesa County — which borders Utah and includes Grand Junction.
Salmansan said Utah is keeping an eye on its own measles situation and taking note of what’s happening in neighboring states.
As the new school year starts, she said, kids who have spent weeks just in the company of family members will now be intermingling, which often leads to a spike in illnesses — not just measles.
The state, she said, is ready to respond.
Utah’s 11 confirmed cases all came from three main clusters where an originally infected person exposed people they were in close contact with, she said. Public health mitigation, and having the infected people stay home, stopped the disease from spreading further.
She said there are also “certainly cases that are probably not being reported,” because people don’t seek medical help — which means they’re not reported to the state health department.
“The takeaway message in general with all of this is: If you are sick, you should stay home,” she added.
If someone chooses not to vaccinate against measles, starts experiencing symptoms and doesn’t seek medical care, Salmanson urged them to check with a doctor if they have difficulties breathing or have a fever that refuses to drop, or if they are pregnant and someone in their home has measles.
“Call ahead,” she said, in order to avoid exposing others at clinics.
Dangers of once-forgotten diseases
Lakin said that much of the distrust of vaccines is comes from people buying into faulty information sources — or reading speculation and misinformation that spawned from the quick production of COVID-19 vaccinations.
What it leads to, he said, are much more expensive treatments and serious dangers to people’s health.
Lakin stressed how small children and people with compromised immune systems face higher risk if infected, and even those who are considered healthy could suffer serious and possibly permanent effects. Measles can cause brain swelling, he said, which could lead to seizures, hearing loss or intellectual disability. The infection can also cause pink eye or pneumonia, he added.
After announcing two pregnant Utahns were infected with measles, the state said pregnancy also puts those women at further complication risk. Measles can also have consequences for the unborn child — with increased risk of stillbirth, miscarriages and other medical issues for the infant, the department said.
Measles also makes people feel “really sick,” Lakin said, and it’s much more expensive to treat than to prevent. Measles patients can be hospitalized, unable to work and pose a high risk to others, especially those who aren’t able to be vaccinated, he said.
According to the CDC, communities can achieve community immunity — otherwise known as “herd immunity” — if 95% of its population is vaccinated.
Lakin, however, doubts Utahns will get closer to that number without seeing the preventable harm preventable diseases can cause.
“It’s going to take major outbreaks like we have now … in order for the public to start changing their mind,” he said.
Lakin said expects not only to see more measles, but also mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis “especially when school starts.”
For now, he said doctors who are newer to the profession are learning how to recognize measles. It hadn’t been an issue before.