Copyright Ars Technica
A measles investigation amid a large, ongoing outbreak at the Arizona-Utah border has hit a roadblock as the first probable case identified in the Salt Lake City area refuses to work with health officials, the local health department reported this week. There have been over 150 cases collectively across the two states, mostly in northwestern Mohave County Arizona, and the Southwest health district of Utah in the past two months. Both areas have abysmally low vaccination rates: In Mohave County, only 78.4 percent of kindergartners in the 2024–2025 school year were vaccinated against measles, according to state records. In the Southwest district of Utah, only 80.7 percent of kindergartners in the 2024–2025 school year had records of measles vaccination. Public health experts say vaccination coverage of 95 percent is necessary to keep the disease from spreading onward in a community. While the outbreak has largely exploded along the border, cases are also creeping to the north, toward Salt Lake County, which encompasses the city. Utah County, which sits just south of Salt Lake County, has identified eight cases, including a new case reported today. Uncooperative case Salt Lake County likely has a new one, too—the first for the county this year—as well as possible exposures. But, they can’t confirm it. County health officials said that a health care provider in the area contacted them late on Monday to tell them about a patient who very likely has measles. The officials then spent a day reaching out to the person, who refused to answer questions or cooperate in any way. That included refusing to share location information so that other people could be notified that they were potentially exposed to one of the most infectious viruses known. “The patient has declined to be tested, or to fully participate in our disease investigation, so we will not be able to technically confirm the illness or properly do contact tracing to warn anyone with whom the patient may have had contact,” Dorothy Adams, executive director of Salt Lake County Health Department, said in a statement. “But based on the specific symptoms reported by the healthcare provider and the limited conversation our investigators have had with the patient, this is very likely a case of measles in someone living in Salt Lake County.” Measles is extremely infectious. It is spread through the air and can linger in the airspace of a room for up to two hours after an infectious person has left. Among unvaccinated people, 90 percent will become infected if exposed. Two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) are 97 percent effective at preventing the infection, and that protection is considered lifelong. Dangerous trends Nicholas Rupp, a spokesperson for the county health department, told the Salt Lake Tribune that officials were at least able to notify people who might have been exposed at the health care provider’s office. However, the patient with the suspected case wouldn’t even share their address with the health officials. The rejection of the health officials’ efforts, as well as the resurgence of a bygone vaccine-preventable illness, reflect growing trends across the country to distrust and disregard public health, as well as embrace anti-vaccine misinformation and rhetoric. These trends have only been exacerbated by the confirmation of prominent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the country’s top health official. Kennedy’s decadeslong work of spreading deadly misinformation about life-saving vaccines helped set some of these trends into motion. To date, the US had recorded at least 1,648 measles cases since the start of the year, the highest case count in over three decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 43 outbreaks in the country, which account for 87 percent of the cases. The outbreaks and cases have spanned at least 41 states. Measles was declared eliminated from the US in 2000, meaning it no longer spreads continuously in the country, though it is occasionally introduced by travel-related cases. This elimination status can be lost if the virus is found to have spread continuously over a 12-month period. Given the continued outbreaks and spread amid slipping vaccination rates, health experts expect the US to lose its status in the near future. Canada, which has had similar trends as the US, is poised to lose its elimination status this year.
