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Virginia Navigates Measles Outbreak

The school year starts this month in almost every district in Virginia, a change from the state’s long-time policy of beginning the year in early September. Administrators in Central Virginia are beginning the semester with a health concern: a measles outbreak in the region.

The Virginia Department of Health reported 177 cases of measles statewide as of Aug. 13. Most of those cases, 154, were in three adjoining counties: Buckingham (126), Cumberland (18), and Prince Edward (10). Some 5% of patients who contracted the virus were hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported from the disease.

While there haven’t been any new measles cases in several weeks, the beginning of the school year means students will be in close contact once again, and measles is easily spread. Virginia requires students to have two doses of the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine before they may attend classes, but there are some exceptions. “We definitely want to be more vigilant about checking immunizations at the beginning of the school year,” Felicia Preston of Martinsville Public Schools told the Virginia Cardinal.

So far this year, seven of the measles cases reported in Virginia were tied to international travel, while 170 cases were apparently contracted........

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