\u201cI don\u2019t want to be alarmist, but I don\u2019t think we should be minimizing the risk,\u201d said Lancaster County Commissioner Alice Yoder, a nurse who formerly worked as a Lancaster General administrator. \u201cThere will be a large number of children coming together every day, and measles is just extraordinarily contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back-to-school this year is \u201ca very scary time,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u00bb READ MORE: Scores of Philly-area schools vulnerable to a measles outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n Cases outside Lancaster<\/p>\n The outbreak increasingly poses a threat outside Lancaster, with several counties in central Pennsylvania reporting their first cases last week.<\/p>\n Suburban Philadelphia\u2019s Chester County<\/a>, which borders Lancaster County to the east, has seen 22 cases of measles so far this year. And local cases are higher than reported, officials there say, adding that some residents with measles have refused to cooperate with the health department\u2019s efforts to trace their contacts. <\/p>\n Lancaster officials, too, say the outbreak has spread more widely than case counts indicate. \u201cEvery case we have, we know there\u2019s another 10 or 20 behind it,\u201d Yoder said.<\/p>\n New infections may also be coming from other places. Lehigh County reported its first two cases in two siblings last week, according to St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network.<\/p>\n The children, whose parents had opted against vaccinating them, had recently traveled internationally, St. Luke\u2019s pediatrics chair Jennifer Janco said.<\/p>\n St. Luke\u2019s doctors first saw the children on video to avoid exposing other patients at a clinic and worked with state health department staff to test them for measles at home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want someone with measles in a doctor\u2019s office or urgent care waiting room,\u201d Janco said.<\/p>\n Eventually, one of the children was hospitalized at another area health system after becoming dehydrated, Janco said. \u201cThey became weak and sick to the point of dehydration \u2014 they couldn\u2019t take enough fluids by mouth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Like Yoder, she is concerned about the threat to Pennsylvania children with the school year about to start.<\/p>\n \u201cThe risk is real. This isn\u2019t measles halfway across the country,\u201d Janco said. \u201cAnd measles doesn\u2019t care about county lines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Do it for your neighbor\u2019<\/p>\n State officials for months have recommended accelerating the schedule<\/a> for routine childhood measles vaccinations, giving infants their first measles, mumps, and rubella shot as early as six months. <\/p>\n State health officials say their staff have administered more than 2,000 doses of the MMR vaccine this year, with more than 1,300 provided in June and July alone.<\/p>\n At Lancaster General, Martin says he\u2019s seen increased interest in vaccination from some parents who had previously refused MMR shots for their children.<\/p>\n \u201cThere does seem to be a message that resonates here, and that is, if not for yourself, do it for your neighbor. Get the immunization to protect the most vulnerable,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Inside Pa.\u2019s measles outbreak: A family rides out the virus, doctors treat severely ill children<\/a><\/p>\n Still, he said, many county residents who are not connected to healthcare settings \u201cvaguely hear there\u2019s something going on with measles, but don\u2019t fully understand we\u2019re in an outbreak status.\u201d<\/p>\n And information about the measles from county government officials has been scarce.<\/p>\n Yoder, a Democrat, said she has been unable to convince her fellow county commissioners, both Republicans<\/a>, to publish more information about the outbreak and the importance of vaccination on the county website. <\/p>\n Josh Parsons, one of the Republican commissioners, did not return a call for comment on the outbreak.<\/p>\n And the county health advisory council, which makes non-binding health recommendations for the county, did not discuss the outbreak at its meeting last month, said Martin, who serves on the council.<\/p>\n State officials handling the outbreak have done \u201ca fantastic job,\u201d Martin said, but he believes stronger local health leadership could help combat the outbreak with a better understanding of the \u201ccomplexity and diversity\u201d of the county and its attitudes toward public health.<\/p>\n
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