Ashley, a county public-health staff member, told the commissioners that Franklin County had not recorded any measles cases even after recent reports of the disease in Iowa. "We haven't seen it in Franklin County," Ashley said during a department update.

The staff member said the county's response would follow routine disease-investigation steps: identify where a case had been, whom the person had been around and offer or check MMR vaccination records. "It would be just like any other disease investigation where we just try to figure out where they've been, what they've done, who they've been around," Ashley said.

Ashley said few residents had contacted the office to ask about their MMR status and that public attention had waned since initial media coverage. "There's not a lot of prep to go into that," the staff member said, adding the office could provide vaccines or verify records for people who ask.

The staff member also addressed immunity and vaccines: while natural infection typically confers immune response, vaccines remain the primary protection. "Once they put the vaccine in there, you're supposed to be protected," Ashley said, while noting no vaccine is 100% effective.

On broader infectious-disease readiness, Ashley said staff had seen occasional pertussis (whooping cough) cases, including rare instances in vaccinated individuals, and that the office was preparing for usual seasonal work: back-to-school immunizations and then flu-season vaccination efforts. "Other than that, business as usual," Ashley said.

The remarks occurred during the county's regular department-update segment; Ashley said the public-health office had recently returned to normal operations after medical leave and continues routine surveillance and vaccine services.