Here’s what to know after measles case at Sacramento hospital may have exposed 300 in California
UC Davis Medical Center officials provided new information after the hospital treated an infant with measles last week, causing more than 300 people to be potentially exposed across 16 Northern California counties.
Calling the situation “under control,” UC Davis Health said in a Friday statement the child arrived to its Sacramento facility March 5 after traveling from abroad. The infant was first treated at a San Joaquin County urgent care facility before coming to Sacramento, wrote István Fazekas, a spokesman with San Joaquin County Public Health Services.
The child was never admitted to UC Davis Medical Center and went home the same day, wrote Liam Connolly, a spokesman for UC Davis Health, in an email Monday.
It’s unclear where the infected infant — whose exact age public health officials have declined to release — went after March 5. Fazekas wrote in an email he isn’t aware of the child coming back to a San Joaquin County medical facility for treatment.
There are approximately 300 people who were exposed to the virus at the hospital, a total that includes inpatients, outpatients, employees and people accompanying their loved ones to the UC Davis Health facility that day, Connolly wrote. Fazekas wrote approximately 30 additional people in San Joaquin County were exposed. He added that each person has been contacted and given a chance to be vaccinated.
Besides the infant, there are no other confirmed instances of infection in the county, Fazekas said Monday.
Measles is a highly contagious disease in which 90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus can be infected via airborne particles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles manifests as a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, according to the CDC. Symptoms appear seven to 14 days after initially exposed to the virus, which can last in the air for up to two hours.
Sacramento and El Dorado counties in statements Friday said the child with measles was at the hospital around noon to 5 p.m. last Tuesday, March 5.
Residents who may have been around the virus live in 16 Northern California counties, including Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties, spokespersons for those three counties said.
UC Davis Health employees said they are notifying each person who was potentially exposed through in-person communications, phone calls, online messages and letters. Staff members caring for patients staying in the hospital have also been informed of proper infection prevention processes, the university health system’s statement said.
“There is no need for a public alert, and there are no additional potential exposures at UC Davis Medical Center beyond those people who have been identified and contacted,” UC Davis Health wrote in the statement.
Katie Combs-Prichard, a spokeswoman for Placer County, said county health officials reached some residents but not everyone. People who have not yet been notified of their potential exposure and are non-immunized against measles must now quarantine for 21 days from the date of the initial exposure, she said.
Elizabeth Zelidon, a spokeswoman with the Sacramento County public health office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Zelidon said Friday that the residents who may have been exposed spanned 16 counties.
MMR vaccination rates for California children
Local, state and federal health officials emphasize the importance of childhood vaccinations to prevent the spread of measles, as immunization rates for disease have trended slightly downward and as outbreaks have recently been reported in the U.S.
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is among required immunizations for students of both public and private K-12 schools in California. Adults can also get vaccinated against the virus.
MMR vaccination rates have declined by about 0.2 percentage points in three years, according to the California Department of Public Health, going from 96.5% in 2019-20 to 96.3% in 2021-22.
CDPH officials publish immunization rates for schools across each county, ranking them on a five-tiered system of the “safest” schools and to campuses with “delinquent” status.
There were at least 16 schools in Sacramento County ranked “vulnerable,” one ranking away from “delinquent” and denoting less than 80% of kindergartners in compliance with required immunizations, according to CDPH data for 2020 to 2022. The schools include a mix of charter schools, private institutions and public schools.
California health data also show vaccination rates vary widely by county. Statewide, 94% of kindergartners were compliant with all required immunizations for the 2021-22 academic year. For San Joaquin County, the rate was 94.9%. In Sacramento County, it was 92.7%; and in El Dorado County, it was 78.2%.
Measles cases and outbreaks have been reported across the U.S. in recent weeks. The CDC as of Thursday had reported 45 cases across 17 states this year, compared to 58 cases for all of 2023.
California health officials have reported four infections in 2024: two in early February and two so far in March. According to CDPH data, the state recorded four cases all of last year and none during 2022.
