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Austin Public Health reports two local measles cases, urges vaccination and monitoring of exposures
Summary
Chief epidemiologist Janet Peschel updated the committee on national and state measles case counts, two recent Travis County cases (one in February, one on April 24), and a recent exposure from an El Paso visitor; APH said it is increasing outreach, offering toolkits and developing a measles risk calculator for schools.
Janet Peschel, chief epidemiologist and assistant director for epidemiology and public‑health preparedness at Austin Public Health, briefed the Public Health Committee on measles on May 15 and described the department’s current case counts, outreach, and monitoring activities.
Peschel said that, nationally, there were 935 measles cases as of the previous Friday; most cases are among people younger than 20 and about 13% were hospitalized. She said Texas reported 702 cases as of May 6, with 91 hospitalizations and two reported pediatric deaths; 96% of those Texas cases were in unvaccinated individuals.
Locally, Peschel said Travis County had its first measles case in February in an unvaccinated infant with international travel; the monitoring period for associated exposures has passed. APH received a second local case on April 24 in a vaccinated person with domestic travel history and is in the monitoring period for exposures that ends May 15. Peschel additionally told the committee that APH is following up on exposure locations from an El Paso resident who visited Austin while infectious between April 25 and April 27; the department said it is compiling a list of places visited (the person named Terry Black's Barbecue among locations) and that the exposure period for that visitor ends May 17.
Peschel described APH’s response activities: handling large volumes of exposure inquiries, arranging laboratory submissions, amplifying vaccination messaging through web and social media, conducting outreach to daycares, schools and medical providers, and working with partners such as CommunityCare, Central Health and the UT Center for Pandemic Decision Support. Peschel said APH and UT developed a measles calculator to help schools estimate outbreak risk based on their vaccine coverage. “Vaccination protects our community,” she said, and APH is maintaining updated FAQs and media/toolkit materials to counter misinformation.
Councilmember Velasquez asked whether APH actively counters misinformation about measles vaccines; Peschel said staff maintain media toolkits and outreach materials and run a health‑equity call line to handle questions from residents and providers. Peschel said APH is preparing dashboards and other tools but stressed privacy and HIPAA considerations in granular public‑data reporting and said the department is preparing for dashboard options should case counts justify them.
Why it matters: Peschel’s briefing placed local cases in the context of a larger state outbreak, outlined exposure monitoring windows and named community outreach and provider coordination measures. APH urged residents who are unsure about their immunization status to seek vaccination and said it is expanding access for underinsured and uninsured patients through partner providers.
