4 Washington measles cases leave health officials racing to quell outbreak

Local public health teams are racing to verify vaccination records with families and students in two Washington counties, hoping to get ahead of the spread of measles amid the state’s first outbreak since 2023.

Three Snohomish County children recently infected are recovering at home, after being exposed to a contagious family visiting from South Carolina, where an ongoing outbreak ballooned past 500 cases Friday. A student at Central Washington University, who also became infected after visiting South Carolina, is doing OK and recovering at home.

Dr. James Lewis, Snohomish County’s health officer, said he firmly “believes” there are other measles infections in the state that public health teams have not yet found.

“We will find more cases that test positive,” Lewis said. “If you’re unvaccinated, you should be feeling very anxious. For people who are vaccinated, you don’t have to worry about it.”

Health officials have released few details about the four who tested positive for measles this week.

The Snohomish County children are between 23 months and 9 years old, the state Department of Health said in a news release Friday. They were not vaccinated. Lewis declined to say if they are in the same household or family, or where they might have become exposed to the South Carolina family. (The children from South Carolina who visited here were not vaccinated, and the parent reported having received at least one vaccine to protect against measles.)

Two schools the Snohomish County children attended, Pathfinder Kindergarten Center and Serene Lake Elementary School, closed their buildings Friday to help curb potential spread, according to the Mukilteo School District.

As of Friday afternoon, Lewis said Snohomish County public health teams had not identified any more cases in the outbreak, defined by three or more related cases.

The college student also was not vaccinated against measles, said Kasey Knutson, spokesperson for the Kittitas County Public Health Department, which is responding to the Central Washington University case. No other related cases had been confirmed Friday.

In Snohomish County, contract-tracing teams have spent the last few days reaching out to families who were possibly exposed either at the schools or at Swedish Mill Creek hospital in Everett. Lewis said his teams have called more than 200 people in the last 24 hours to try to verify whether or not they’ve been immunized against measles.

At Pathfinder Kindergarten Center, 92.6% of students received their measles vaccine during the 2024-25 academic year. At Serene Lake Elementary School, 94.5% of students were vaccinated that year. The state’s K-12 average measles immunization rate that year was 94.6%.

“If we can’t verify immunity (in the state’s immunization registry), we reach out,” Lewis said. “If you get a call from a 425 area code, it’s probably public health. We’d really appreciate it if you talk to us.”

If you were possibly exposed to measles or if you receive a call from public health teams, the most important thing to do is know your immunization status, Lewis said. To see if you’ve received a measles vaccine, check with your primary care provider or in the state Department of Health immunization registry, he said.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe, highly effective, lasts a lifetime and offers 97% protection against the virus.

Last year, about 2,200 people were diagnosed with measles nationwide. The surge coincides with a sharp decline in the number of children being inoculated against diseases like measles, including in Washington. The drop in vaccination rates has grown more pronounced since President Donald Trump returned to office, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to repeat misinformation about vaccines.

Washington state has seen at least seven outbreaks in the last 25 years, ranging in size from seven to 90 cases.

The most recent occurred in 2023, when about nine people in southwest Washington became infected. Before that, two separate, large outbreaks sickened about 90 people in 2019, the most infectious year for the disease since 1990.

The larger 2019 outbreak spread mostly in Clark County.

Last year, there were at least 12 mostly unrelated measles cases in Washington residents spanning King, Snohomish, Whatcom and Spokane counties, in addition to several among people who traveled through the state at some point. Five of the 12 confirmed resident cases were among children under 5.

No deaths due to measles have been reported in Washington since 2015.

As of Friday, there were at least 16 active locations for measles public exposure in the state, including in King, Snohomish and Kittitas counties, according to the Department of Health’s measles exposures map.

The measles virus can remain in the air for up to two hours after someone infectious with measles leaves the area. The incubation period for measles is 10 to 14 days from exposure to onset of symptoms, with a range of seven to 21 days. For people exposed at the schools, that would be through Jan. 30. For those who were at Swedish Mill Creek, that would be through Feb. 3.

The exposure locations and times are:

• Jan. 9, 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., at Pathfinder Kindergarten Center, 11401 Beverly Park Road, Everett.
• Jan. 9, 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. – Serene Lake Elementary School, 4709 Picnic Point Road, Edmonds.
• Jan. 13, 1:10 to 3:10 p.m. – Swedish Mill Creek Campus medical facility, 13020 Meridian Ave. S., Everett.

Anyone who was at those places at those times could have been exposed and should check their vaccination status.

If you develop a rash or illness with fever, call a health care provider immediately. To avoid spreading measles, do not go to a clinic or hospital without calling first to tell them you want to be checked for measles after an exposure.

Measles is contagious from about four to five days before the rash appears through four days after the rash appears. People can spread measles before they have the characteristic measles rash.

The Snohomish County Health Department noted that if one person has it, up to 9 out of 10 people nearby will become infected if they are not protected.

Measles can lead to ear infections, diarrhea, pneumonia and, rarely, encephalitis or death. Complications can happen even in healthy people, but those at highest risk include infants and children younger than 5, adults older than 20, pregnant people and people with weakened immune systems from medications or underlying disease.

Lewis reiterated that vaccination is the best protection against severe complications from measles.

“This comes at a time when there’s a lot of confusing messaging coming from the Department of Health and Human Services on immunizations,” Lewis said. “But recommendations endorsed by the state Department of Health and the West Coast Health Alliance … are science-based, safe recommendations.

Information from the Seattle Times archives was included in this report.