Arizona health officials are keeping tabs on 1,000 people, including 200 children, who could have been exposed to measles at a Phoenix-area medical center.
The outbreak originated in California’s Disney parks has now spread to the state. Those who have been exposed to the disease who have not been vaccinated are being asked to stay from for 21 days or wear masks if they have to go out in public.
“To stay in your house for 21 days is hard,” State Health Services director Will Humble said. “But we need people to follow those recommendations, because all it takes is a quick trip to the Costco before you’re ill and, ‘bam,’ you’ve just exposed a few hundred people. We’re at a real critical juncture with the outbreak.”
Health officials do not know the number of how many children were vaccinated for measles or their age ranges. Children under a year cannot receive the vaccination for measles, mumps or rubella, but can get an immunity booster.
Arizona is second in the number of cases traced to Disney parks last month, next to California. Measles has been confirmed in Utah, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Nebraska as well.
The Arizona woman whose case was confirmed Tuesday in Maricopa County came into contact with a Pinal County family that traveled to Disneyland, but did not have telltale signs of measles like a rash when she visited the Phoenix Children’s East Valley Center. Maricopa County health director Bob England declined to say whether she’d had the measles vaccine, which isn’t 100 percent effective in stemming the spread of the disease.
“Unfortunately, she came down with the disease and by the time it was recognized had already exposed a large number of children at the facility,” he said.
Masks are being placed outside health care facilities and signs went up outside placed in Kearny warning customers and employees that they could have been exposed to measles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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"CRITICAL JUNCTURE" Ariz. monitors 1,000 as measles outbreak spreads
