Measles exposure reported at Sacramento-area pediatric care location as cases rise
Good morning everyone and thank you so much for being here. I am Doctor Olivia Casirier. I’m the health officer for Sacramento County. I just want to start by saying my focus is always on keeping our community safe. I know hearing about measles can be concerning, and the goal today is to make sure people have the correct information so that they know what’s going on, what’s happening, what we are doing about it, and how they can protect themselves and protect their families. Since our last public health update, uh, earlier this month, we’ve confirmed 6 additional cases, which brings our total in Sacramento County to 11. This year this tells us that measles is continuing to circulate locally primarily among children that are not vaccinated. Several of the recent cases are within households, and we also identified an exposure at *** pediatric health care setting. Our team is continuing to work to respond quickly. We work with our healthcare partners and we’ve conducted contact tracing of all the known cases. We’ve, we notify individuals that may have been exposed and we monitor them closely on *** daily basis. We’re also closely working with healthcare workers, healthcare, uh, providers across the region to make sure that they are prepared when we do refer. Uh, individuals to them for post exposure prophylaxis, which is, uh, vaccination or sometimes they have to get *** shot of immunoglobulin. The overall risk to the general public remains low, but the risk is much higher for people that are not vaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated. I’d like to point out that children that are less than 1 year old are not eligible for vaccination, so it is dependent on the rest of us to protect that population. We know that vaccination is the best protection for our community against measles. We also know that California has *** strong vaccination rate overall, and, but we know that measles can spread in pockets where people are not vaccinated like what we’re seeing now. And because it is so contagious, even small gaps in vaccination coverage can lead to more cases. Beyond vaccination, we are also asking people to make sure that if they are sick, if they’re exhibiting symptoms such as fever, cough, cold, and *** rash, that they stay home, that they do not attend gatherings such as birthday parties, church, or school, and also that they check on their children. If they do need to, uh, contact *** healthcare provider. We request that they call ahead of time so that the facility can prepare and make sure that they minimize their risk of exposure to other individuals. Going forward, uh, Sacramento County will continue to share case count updates every Friday on our website, and if you have further questions, please reach out to our public information officer, uh, who can get information forwarded to you really quickly. Again, we thank you all for being here and for helping us to make sure that our community has the information they need to stay safe during this time. Right now I’d like to invite Doctor Rob Oldham from Plaza County to, uh, speak more about what is going on in Plaza County. Well, thank you, Doctor Kairi, um, and thanks for inviting us in Placer County to participate in this press conference today, but thank you for all of your collaboration over the many years and especially on this outbreak in the last, uh, few months. Um, so, in addition to working, uh, with Doctor Kasiri and Uh, her great team, uh, here in, in Sacramento County, we’ve had the pleasure of working with, uh, colleagues from our healthcare delivery, um, systems, um, and other neighboring counties, uh, during this outbreak, as well as with the California, uh, Department of Public Health. So I just wanted to also thank all of them for their, um, for their help, and I wanted to thank you and our local news media for your help in getting out, out the word and for being here today. Um, so in Placer County, our case count now, um, still remains at 8 as of today. Um, and that was split between two families, uh, with cases dating back to, to January. Um, however, we do expect the outbreak not, not to end here. Um, we, we expect more cases are likely. Um, and like our colleagues in, in Sacramento County, we’re updating our website, uh, weekly with case counts and any pertinent pertinent information around potential exposures. Um, Plasser posts these updates on Mondays or as needed. Uh, because people live, work, recreate, and learn across county lines, um, every day, we approach this with, uh, *** regional lens. Uh, as we monitor measles activity in our area, I want to be clear, um, these risks aren’t tied to any single location or building. Um, exposures are most likely in any spaces where unvaccinated groups come together. Sometimes we can identify and directly notify people who’ve been exposed, for example, in *** closed group or *** setting where attendance is logged. Uh, in those situations, we may not name the location publicly because the people who need the information are already being contacted. But if the exposure happens in *** truly public place, somewhere where we can’t track who is present, uh, you may see us name that location so people can assess their own potential exposure and know what to do next. At the end of the day though, we stress that any gathering of people, including kids who haven’t had the MMR vaccine is going to present risk of exposure while measles is circulating in our community, regardless of zip code. I’d also like to emphasize that because of our high MMR vaccination rates in public and private schools, we don’t anticipate that measles will be able to get ***, *** foothold in these environments. That’s somewhat different than, uh, from other outbreaks occurring nationwide, such as in South Carolina, where, uh, students have lost instruction time due to the need to quarantine. In Placer, our transitional kindergarten, kindergarten MMR vaccination rate now exceeds 96%, which is higher than the state average. We’re sharing essential updates across counties as they come in to make sure our response is consistent and effective. That coordination includes aligning guidance to the public so families hear the same messages no matter where they live or seek care, sharing information across county lines about exposures, high risk settings, and contact tracing needs, and working closely with healthcare partners and schools to ensure prevention steps are in place and that they are, they, they know what to do in case of *** suspected case. Measles is highly contagious and spreads fastest in clusters of unvaccinated individuals. Coordinating regionally helps us to spot these clusters sooner, notify people more quickly, and prevent small groups of cases from becoming larger outbreaks. For anyone who is not vaccinated, please make this the moment to seriously consider vaccination. Vaccination is our strongest protection. If vaccination isn’t an option for you today, we’re asking you to reconsider group activities, especially settings where unvaccinated individuals gather until the situation stabilizes. These are steps that can protect the whole region and importantly, our youngest children who aren’t yet fully vaccinated, including those who aren’t old enough to be vaccinated. Viruses don’t stop at county lines, and neither should our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable in our communities. We’ll continue working together across counties to keep families informed and supported. Thank you, and I’ll turn it over to Doctor Dean Blumberg from UC Davis Health to provide *** clinical overview of measles. Doctor Bloomberg, thank you. Thank you. I’m Doctor Dean Blumberg, and um I’m *** specialist with pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Health. You know, measles, um, it, it’s very difficult to differentiate that from *** regular cold or upper respiratory tract infection when it first starts, because it first starts with fever, runny nose, cough, maybe some red eyes. But it’s the rash. When those occur in combination with *** rash, that’s what really gives clinicians like me *** clue, an idea that this might be measles and really sets off alarm bells because measles is so darn contagious. And so when that rash occurs, then we do carefully assess patients for their risk for measles, possible exposure, and of course, their immunization status, because as we’ve heard, um, the vaccine is highly effective, and so measles is primarily gonna affect those who are unvaccinated or around unvaccinated individuals. Now, many people have talked about measles and said, measles, it’s just fever and *** rash, don’t worry about it. Well, it is fever and *** rash, but complications are relatively common with measles. So you can have minor complications with measles that can include ear infections, but more serious complications can occur also. Including dehydration, which may need hospital admission for intravenous fluids, the development of pneumonia, or inflammation of the brain. Many people don’t remember that before we had measles vaccine in this country, almost every child got measles, so that was about 400,000 cases *** year. And 4 to 500 children died every year from measles in the US. Worldwide, more than 100,000 children still die every year from measles. So this is something that we as clinicians take very seriously. Vaccines. are your best protection against measles, and during this time when measles is circulating in the community, I do worry about those who are most vulnerable and can’t be protected from vaccine because they might be too young to be vaccinated, or because they have *** weakened immune system. So those are the ones that really need to make sure that they protect themselves by being around individuals who are protected, who are, are vaccinated. And then finally, I’d just like to say I really do value the collaboration among all the health systems in the city and in the area. We do collaborate as clinicians, um, and we really couldn’t do the work we do without the knowledge that we gain and the information that we gain from our county public health officials, and then working with the state public health also. Thank you. And now I’d like to introduce Doctor John Belco, pediatric infectious disease colleague from Kaiser. Thank you, Dean. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. I’ll keep my comments brief. I’m gonna just echo what you’ve heard already. I’m gonna talk ad nausea about vaccination, but I’m also gonna just remind one factor, when the rash develops with *** fever, the rash typically starts on the head or behind the ears and then spreads down the body. And that is one of the key differentiating features that we wanna look for. That’s what we we’ve been trained in medical school, and residency, and in practice to kind of look for. With respect to vaccination, the vaccine is really quite safe. One dose of vaccine is 93% effective. Two doses of vaccine is more than 97% effective at preventing infection with measles. I want to implore families that are underimmunized or families that have chosen not to vaccinate to reassess and re-examine their decisions as to why they chose not to vaccinate their children or what their concerns are, and reach out to their healthcare provider and have that frank discussion about what their concerns are, what their worries are about the vaccination, and really consider vaccinating their children. Uh, I can say that, um, having measles circulate in the community does spur quite *** few people to get their children vaccinated, which is really encouraging, and we wanna continue that. We want to get the message out that vaccination is still the best way to prevent the complications from measles. Right? And with that, I’ll stop and then I think we’ll move on to the question and answer session. Can you tell us about the Grab *** micro away. OK so I’m gonna answer. I just ask you state your name and the outlet you’re with before you um give the question. from Sacramento Um. The cases we’ve had in Sacramento County have been serious. But we have not had any hospitalized. Uh all of them Uh, taking care And we continue You know, so that’s uh, uh, similar with Plaster County, we’ve had uh 22 households and all of the cases have been relatively mild. Any other questions? Were all of those with TCR does with KCRA were all of those cases unvaccinated? Uh, yes, for plaster, uh, all other, uh, unvaccinated or we’re not able to confirm vaccination status. Uh, for Sacramento County, uh, 10 of them had no vaccination records. 1 did have *** record of 1 vaccine. And Doctor Kay, what was the theatric center that you said exposed people or was it exposure site? We are not naming that, uh, center, the, um, as Doctor Oldham mentioned, when we are able to get, uh, access to lists, we try to minimize getting, uh, names out into the public because we are able to contact the individuals that were, uh, exposed. And if you could just stress uh the severity of this, we call this an outbreak, but when someone in the community hears there’s 8 or 11 cases, they may not take that as *** serious outbreak because in their eyes they they say that’s *** low number. So can you just clarify why that number, the fact that it’s growing even though it appears to be small, is *** big concern. The concern for the outbreak we have right now is that we are continuing to have spread within the community. In previous years, Sacramento County has had 2 or 3 cases of measles, but those were related to international travel. And we were able through our um uh uh the investigations that we do, we were able to stop the spread to anybody else in the community. This time around we know that there is ongoing spread and we do the best that we can with the tools that we have to, to stop the spread, but the important thing is people need to get vaccinated. That’s the best way to stop it. We also do have efforts, uh, as has been mentioned, between, uh, Sacramento and Plaza and working with our healthcare, uh, partners to get the word out, get people in quarantine to try and stop the spread, but the most important thing is people need to get vaccinated. The danger, as our colleagues from healthcare have mentioned. Is that, uh, measles can have complications and especially for, uh, people who are very young or who have uh compromised immune systems so we do worry if we have *** child who is less than *** year old who gets exposed they are at *** much greater risk because they have not had the chance to get vaccinated and they’re *** much greater risk of complications. I think you guys can know. Yeah, if I could just add to that, you know, one case of measles is concerning, but when there’s transmission in the community, that’s even more concerning. Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to humans, and to put that in perspective, when COVID first started, each case of COVID resulted in about 4 to 6 other vulnerable people being infected. With measles, that number is 15. So 15 people can be infected from one individual. With measles, you don’t even have to come in direct contact with the person who’s infectious. The virus can linger in the air for up to 2 hours after somebody leaves *** room. So if you walk into *** room where somebody was infected within 1 hour or 2, infection can occur. And that’s why we worry so much about it. We worry that there can be more explosive outbreaks, and so every single case we take very seriously. Is there additional concern because of *** delay in the effectiveness of getting *** vaccination, uh, in regards to once you get it and how long it takes for it to become effective? Sure, so it takes roughly about 7 to 14 days to start to develop immunity from the vaccination, and so there is that period of vulnerability that. That exists, but if we can get the vaccination in in someone who’s been exposed, who’s not immunized within the 1st 3 days after exposure, they may be able to develop sufficient immunity to prevent infection at that point in time. So there is *** small window of vulnerability, but in general, the sooner that we can get the vaccination in, this even pre would be better. You had measles in the past as *** kid or early adult? What precautions do you need to take at this time now? Do you? So that, that’s also *** really great question. So having had measles in the past does afford you protection against having measles again in the future. So it’s for chicken pox. Meaning, so it’s *** little different from chickenpox because with chickenpox, once you’re infected, you’re infected forever and your immune system kind of maintains its infection in *** latent state or in *** quiet state. And as that, as you age. Your immunity may wane or as you develop other comorbidity conditions like diabetes, your immunity may wane *** little bit to permit the virus to recirculate or resurface. Hence shingles, which is what you get with, with chickenpox. Can you describe how measles looks as far as the rash is concerned because someone may have something and not take it seriously and just think it’s something else. So, is it flat? Is it elevated? What does that look like? Yeah, so when the rash develops, as Doctor Belco mentioned, it usually develops starting at the head, the face, and it’s *** red, blotchy rash, and then it travels down the body and eventually coalesce coalesces and become, become more red. So it’s usually more concentrated on the face, less concentrated as you go down the body. And the kids who have measles are generally miserable. So they’ve got the fever, runny nose, red eyes, red, itchy eyes, and they’re coughing, and they’re just miserable. This isn’t, this isn’t just like *** regular cold where they like just tough it out. Most of the kids are very irritable and it’s very difficult for them. Is it itchy for them, this rash? The rash generally is not itchy, no. OK, thank you. That was what I was gonna say. have mentioned um No hospitalizations up to now, right? So, what are some symptoms to be alert in case. I can do that. That’s fine. Uh, so the things that we look for are fairly straightforward. If the child’s unable to eat or drink and keep fluids down, that’s one of the most common reasons for hospitalization. They need IV hydration. If they end up developing pneumonia, meaning that they have some trouble breathing, that is also frequently *** cause for hospitalization. Um, so those are the two more common instances. Some kids will develop inflammation of their brain, uh, that can lead to signs of like meningitis, so they might have *** little photophobia or sensitivity to light, they might have severe headaches, they might have vomiting. That would prompt also *** visit to the emergency room for evaluation. What, what should folks do before they come to the emergency? What’s so in in, uh, what we would ask for people to do, especially if they’re presenting with fever and *** rash that might be measles or they think they’ve been exposed to measles and they think they have measles, that they should actually try to call ahead or they should come with someone who’s not symptomatic, who can actually go in, let the staff know that, hey, my, I think my child is sick with measles, and then the staff can take the appropriate precautions. How centralized are Exposures that you are. are Um, there’ve been ***, uh, several. Exposure sites, uh, including an enrichment center we’ve also had expo exposures at, uh, some birthday parties and, uh, some other community events as well. And of those 6 new cases here in Sacramento County, do you have any information on their ages, if they were mostly children? They’re all children. And for parents who may have *** young one under the age of 1 who may not be eligible for vaccination, what advice do you have for them given we have these cases circulating at this point? For children that are less than *** year old, they’re not eligible yet for vaccination, but we we suggest that, um, parents talk to their healthcare provider to evaluate the risk. If they do get the message that the child has been exposed, it’s very important for them to reach out to their healthcare provider so that they can get, uh, post-exposure prophylaxis. Great. Do you have any other questions, maybe time for one or two more at most. Awesome. I think that that concludes our press conference today. Thank you all for being here and thank you all to our speakers for sharing all of your wonderful information.
Measles exposure reported at Sacramento-area pediatric care location as cases rise
Updated: 10:25 AM PDT Apr 15, 2026
Northern California health officials addressed what they are calling an ongoing local measles outbreak, as cases continue to rise and a pediatric care center has been exposed to the virus. Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye was joined by Dr. Robert Oldham with Placer County Public Health and Dr. Dean Blumberg with UC Davis Health.At the news conference, Kasirye said the number of cases in Sacramento County rose to 11. Ten of the cases had no vaccination records, she said. Kasirye also said an exposure was confirmed at a pediatric care center, but she would not say which center.Oldham said the number of cases in Placer County remains at eight, but urged people who are not vaccinated to reconsider group activities.Blumberg stressed how infectious measles is, comparing it to COVID-19. He said that with COVID, four to five people can be infected from one person. With measles, he said about 15 people could be infected by one person.Measles is so infectious, Blumberg said, that the infected person does not even have to be in the same room to spread the virus because it can linger in the air for up to two hours after the infected person leaves the room.As of 12 p.m. Monday, data from the California Department of Public Health show that 39 cases have been confirmed in the state this year so far, but that number is likely to increase with the six additional cases Sacramento County reported at the news conference.Of those 39 cases, 37 people were either unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Two cases have led to hospitalizations. Measles is an airborne virus and one of the most contagious diseases in the world, especially among children.Health experts say vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent infection. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — known as the MMR vaccine — provides more than 99% protection against measles for people who are fully vaccinated.Compared to the 39 cases so far this year, CDPH reported 25 confirmed cases in 2025 and 15 cases in 2024.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channelPHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Northern California health officials addressed what they are calling an ongoing local measles outbreak, as cases continue to rise and a pediatric care center has been exposed to the virus.
Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye was joined by Dr. Robert Oldham with Placer County Public Health and Dr. Dean Blumberg with UC Davis Health.
At the news conference, Kasirye said the number of cases in Sacramento County rose to 11. Ten of the cases had no vaccination records, she said. Kasirye also said an exposure was confirmed at a pediatric care center, but she would not say which center.
Oldham said the number of cases in Placer County remains at eight, but urged people who are not vaccinated to reconsider group activities.
Blumberg stressed how infectious measles is, comparing it to COVID-19. He said that with COVID, four to five people can be infected from one person. With measles, he said about 15 people could be infected by one person.
Measles is so infectious, Blumberg said, that the infected person does not even have to be in the same room to spread the virus because it can linger in the air for up to two hours after the infected person leaves the room.
As of 12 p.m. Monday, data from the California Department of Public Health show that 39 cases have been confirmed in the state this year so far, but that number is likely to increase with the six additional cases Sacramento County reported at the news conference.
Of those 39 cases, 37 people were either unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Two cases have led to hospitalizations.
Measles is an airborne virus and one of the most contagious diseases in the world, especially among children.
Health experts say vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent infection. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — known as the MMR vaccine — provides more than 99% protection against measles for people who are fully vaccinated.
Compared to the 39 cases so far this year, CDPH reported 25 confirmed cases in 2025 and 15 cases in 2024.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel