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Public health officials brief Davis County advisory board on measles, senior communicable-disease risks
Summary
A Davis County epidemiologist updated the senior advisory board on the national measles outbreak and on communicable-disease threats affecting older adults, emphasizing vaccination, infection control in congregate settings and school readiness for the coming term.
Matt McCord, an epidemiologist with the Division of Communicable Disease and Epidemiology, told the Davis County Senior Services Advisory Board that measles is highly contagious, the county has had no confirmed cases and public health is focused on prevention and school-year readiness.
"Measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases that we know of," McCord said, outlining incubation, symptom, and infectious-period timing and noting the disease’s prodrome of cough, coryza and conjunctivitis. He said nationally 92% of identified measles cases have been among unvaccinated people, about 13% of reported cases have required hospitalization and three deaths had been reported in the current outbreak.
McCord said Davis County has had to "rule out a lot of suspected cases" this year through testing and contact tracing but had recorded zero confirmed cases. He said most current U.S. cases have been among middle-aged adults and younger people in the counties where cases are concentrated, and public health teams are preparing schools. "If there's a case identified at your school... if your kid was exposed, and you choose not to get vaccinated, your child could be required to stay at home for up to 21 days," he said, describing exclusion policies tied to the incubation window.
The state will expand wastewater surveillance to include measles detection, McCord said, and the department has worked with schools and health-care providers on testing guidance and parent education. He said vaccination remains the key prevention tool and described community-immunity benefits from high coverage.
McCord also summarized communicable-disease risks specifically for older adults. Using county reportable-disease data, he said older residents had higher rates of several conditions and identified the top five reportable problems for seniors in Davis County: COVID-associated hospitalizations, norovirus (gastrointestinal outbreaks), influenza-associated hospitalizations, carbapenem-resistant organisms (antibiotic-resistant bacteria), and invasive streptococcal infections. He stressed infection-prevention and control in long-term care and assisted-living settings, noting "almost 70 percent of norovirus cases come from long term care facilities or assisted living" among the senior population.
On vaccines for older adults, McCord and other speakers noted local vaccine access: the division has run monthly vaccine clinics at senior centers under a U.S. Aging grant. He urged staff and board members to encourage seasonal influenza and COVID vaccination as well as vaccines recommended for older adults (shingles, pneumococcal vaccines and others) to reduce hospitalizations.
Board members asked whether the county’s age groups were being affected; McCord said the outbreak to date has primarily affected younger and middle-aged groups in Utah and the region, and Davis County has been spared confirmed cases but remains engaged in testing and school outreach.
Ending: Public health staff told the board the county is monitoring measles through testing, wastewater surveillance and school outreach, emphasizing vaccination and infection-control practices in congregate senior settings to reduce hospitalizations and outbreaks.
