{"id":313783,"date":"2025-11-26T00:40:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/313783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T00:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:40:18","slug":"utah-health-officials-urge-2-things-after-wasatch-high-sees-5-measles-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/313783\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah health officials urge 2 things after Wasatch High sees 5 measles cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

The school sits in a county with some of the lowest measles vaccination rates among Utah public school kids, state health data indicates.<\/p>\n

(Grace Doerfler | KPCW) Wasatch High School, where five cases of measles were linked last week.<\/p>\n

Note to readers \u2022The Salt Lake Tribune is making this story free to all.<\/p>\n

After five measles cases were linked to one Utah high school last week, state health officials are urging two things of campus parents: Keep unvaccinated children at home, and vaccinate your kids.<\/p>\n

The school, Wasatch High, sits in a county with some of the lowest measles vaccination rates among public school kids in the state, according to Utah Department of Health and Human Services data.<\/a> <\/p>\n

According to 2024-25 school year data, for instance, 13% of seventh graders in Wasatch County lacked documentation showing they had received the two-dose measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.<\/p>\n

The guidance for Wasatch High families came in a joint letter Saturday from the Wasatch County School District and the Wasatch County Health Department that disclosed the exposures, which \u201cmay\u201d have occurred between Nov. 14 and Nov. 18. <\/p>\n

\u201cMeasles is highly contagious, spreads easily, and can remain in the air for up to two hours,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cApproximately 9 out of 10 people who are not immune will become infected when exposed. The MMR vaccine is the best way to protect your child and family from measles.\u201d <\/p>\n

Any unvaccinated students who may have been exposed were directed in the letter to \u201cstay home from school for 21 days,\u201d which is the measles incubation period.<\/p>\n

After that guidance was issued, attendance at the high school Monday wasn\u2019t significantly affected, a district spokesperson told The Salt Lake Tribune in a statement, directing all other questions to the Wasatch County Health Department. <\/p>\n

In Utah, K\u201112 students must complete two rounds of vaccinations to attend public school: one before kindergarten and another before seventh grade, with different immunizations required at each stage.<\/p>\n

However, the law allows parents to request exemptions from all or some of the required vaccinations for medical, religious and personal reasons. <\/p>\n

According to the state health department\u2019s website<\/a>, the exemption rate for kindergarten and seventh grade students has increased \u201cdramatically since the pandemic.\u201d During the 2024-25 school year, 9% of kindergarteners and 9% of seventh graders statewide had exemptions to one or more vaccines. <\/p>\n

Wasatch County health officials have noticed the trend, said Lana North, a spokesperson for the county health department. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is just help people understand,\u201d North said. \u201cThe biggest recommendation really is the MMR vaccine. And the reason that is is because it\u2019s got about a 97% effectiveness rate, meaning that 97% of time, you\u2019re not going to get sick if you\u2019ve been fully vaccinated.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The school sits in a county with some of the lowest measles vaccination rates among Utah public school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,8624,153249,140720,153248],"class_list":{"0":"post-313783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-jpmorgan-chase","10":"tag-jpmorgan-chase-utah-headquarters","11":"tag-jpmorganchase","12":"tag-utah-banking"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}