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A second confirmed case of the mumps was reported at Berkeley High School on March 4, 2026. Credit: Elsie Yuen Credit: Elsie Yuen<\/p>\nA second confirmed case of the mumps was reported at Berkeley High School on March 4, 2026. Credit: Elsie Yuen Credit: Elsie Yuen<\/p>\n
Berkeley health officials issued a moderate-risk mumps exposure alert for Berkeley High School (BHS) on Wednesday after confirming a second case on campus that is believed to have been spread through direct contact.<\/p>\n
In late February, officials reported that people at BHS and Sylvia Mendez Elementary were potentially exposed to mumps<\/a> earlier that month and in mid-January, but the risk of community transmission at that time was considered \u201cvery low.\u201d The second reported case at BHS prompted Berkeley\u2019s public health department to increase its risk assessment for exposure on campus.<\/p>\n The latest mumps case at BHS is linked to a person who was on campus while sick on Feb. 19 and 20, according to an email from Principal Juan Raygoza to the school community on Wednesday. Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) officials declined to say whether the individual is a student or staff member, and did not disclose their vaccination status.\u00a0<\/p>\n BUSD families were urged to monitor symptoms through March 17 and keep sick kids at home. Officials advised BHS community members to avoid sharing utensils and drinks to prevent further spread.\u00a0City health officials recommend the BHS community confirm vaccination status, \u201cand, if needed, complete vaccination.\u201d<\/p>\n Berkeley Public Health and the school district are monitoring the situation \u201cclosely\u201d to reduce the risk of transmission. In an email statement Thursday afternoon, BUSD said city health officials are offering \u201cprevention and response strategies\u201d at BHS and are conducting \u201cenhanced surveillance\u201d and testing guidance to detect any additional cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mumps symptoms can include cheek or jaw swelling, fever, headache, muscle pain, fatigue and pain near the ears and neck. Officials said the virus may be contagious before symptoms appear, which can be about 12 to 25 days after exposure.<\/p>\n At Berkeley High, students and teachers express a mix of surprise and concern<\/p>\n Talia Nishioka, a senior at BHS, said the spread of the virus through direct contact at BHS might mean that \u201cit\u2019s going to become a bigger thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI normally get extremely worried about sicknesses going around,\u201d she said. \u201cI was actually super concerned until my dad told me that I have a vaccine, so I\u2019m kind of chill now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n BHS math teacher Anna Shim said she was \u201cshocked and disturbed\u201d when she received the mumps exposure notification. She had noticed kids out sick recently, but does not know if any of her students were affected by the virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought it was a cold going around,\u201d she said.\u201d I feel like a lot of kids have been out sick longer with a really long, nasty fever. One kid was out for like two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n June Griffith, a Berkeley High junior, said she had not heard of the mumps virus until BHS sent out the exposure notice. She said she\u2019s not too worried because she is vaccinated, but the possibility of contracting the disease is \u201cscary and unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think most of my friends have brought it up to me today, saying that it\u2019s weird \u2026 and out of the blue,\u201d she said on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Local mumps cases come on the heels of national rise in anti-vaccine rhetoric\u00a0<\/p>\n BUSD and the local public health department said \u201cvaccination remains the strongest protection\u201d and recommended masking for people experiencing symptoms. Raygoza\u2019s message to the school community noted that vaccinated people are less likely to develop severe illness, but can still spread the virus through coughing, sneezing, and saliva.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the other kids at Berkeley High School have been immunized, the chances of them coming down with mumps, even if they were exposed, are very small,\u201d UC Berkeley Health Sciences Clinical Professor Emeritus John Swartzberg told Berkeleyside.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said, however, that immunity from the two\u2011dose measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine can decline after about a decade, meaning a vaccinated child may have reduced protection by the time they are teenagers.<\/p>\n California schools are required to verify MMR vaccination at the kindergarten and 7th-grade levels. The state has among the highest MMR vaccination rates in the country, at 95% for all entering kindergarteners<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n All 11 BUSD elementary schools reported MMR vaccination rates at 90% or above, according to an April data map by EdSource<\/a>. Experts say that at least 95% of students should be vaccinated to maintain herd immunity and prevent outbreaks.<\/p>\n City officials said in an email Thursday afternoon that 7th-grade BUSD vaccination data \u201cwould not necessarily reflect\u201d the current population at Berkeley High, as new students enroll and others move away.<\/p>\n Swartzberg said the mumps virus is not as contagious as COVID-19 or measles. He said a \u201cmoderate\u201d risk indicates \u201cthat you may have spent some time in close proximity\u201d with an infected person. He added that a person with mumps is contagious up to about 48 hours before symptoms show and at least five days after.<\/p>\n The recently reported mumps cases and possible exposures at BUSD come amid increased anti-vaccine activism<\/a> nationally, fueled by misinformation and confusion<\/a> about the efficacy of vaccines, and belief in the unfounded claim that some vaccines may cause autism.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mumps cases at Berkeley High also come amid a surge in measles cases nationally. While measles is a distinct virus, it is in the same family of Paramyxoviridae viruses, and can be prevented by the same MMR vaccine. There were 2,281 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control<\/a>, the highest number in over three decades.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s a direct relationship between the percentage of people protected with the vaccine and the number of cases we\u2019re going to see \u2014 and those (vaccine) numbers are dropping,\u201d Swartzberg said. \u201cWe have a concerted push by the United States government to discourage vaccination in every way they can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Swartzberg said he had mumps as a child \u201clong before the vaccines were available.\u201d He described the experience as \u201cmiserable,\u201d and though he got better, some severe cases can lead to organ damage, hearing loss, and sterility.<\/p>\n \u201cThese diseases are preventable. Protect children with immunization, it\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n