In February, high school students across Utah tested positive for HIV after a state wrestling tournament at Utah Valley University in Orem. A dashboard that monitors the measles virus in contaminated water is flashing alerts across the country. “Wrestling really feels like our revolution,” said Nicholas Rupp, director of communications for the Salt Lake County Health Department.
Salt Lake County’s transition from capture to mitigation meant prioritizing high-risk situations and relaxing controls everywhere. If a student has a confirmed case, for example, health officials meet with the school nurse to determine which children are most at risk. Unvaccinated children in the same classroom as an infected person are asked to stay home for 21 days, but those in other classrooms may not, said Melanie Crossland, an epidemiologist at the Salt Lake health department. Some schools with high vaccination rates have opted to monitor students’ temperatures daily instead of requiring lockdowns. One school created a separate area for the unvaccinated.
Crossland said that strategies like these involved a “huge” effort but prevented the blowout that brought it down during the Covid era.
“We give everything when we are here,” he said, “but the days of killing ourselves, when according to the law there is no one to help us, are over.”
Day Care Problem
The outbreak has lasted so long that some children who have recovered from measles have since been hospitalized for what should be minor infections from common bugs, said Kerri Smith, a pediatrician at a hospital in southwestern Utah. Measles can erase the memory of the immune system, impairing the body’s ability to fight other viruses. “It makes kids more susceptible to getting sick again,” Smith said.
His eyes were red, and he looked tired from a long week of travel. Since the outbreak of the disease, he has treated more than ten children and children who are seriously ill due to measles.
“Usually, they are admitted to the hospital with measles pneumonia, so they struggle to breathe, gasping for breath under their ribs,” she said. “High fever, 104 to 105, very sad, very tired, dehydrated, with sunken eyes.” Most children recover fully from measles, but some become permanently deaf, a small proportion die, and in rare cases, measles kills a person years after the disease.
No one has died so far in the Utah outbreak. And despite that negative effect, Smith and other doctors say, some parents fail to grasp the gravity of measles, just as their children have tubes inserted into their tiny noses to deliver oxygen. Despite repeated warnings, doctors say, some unvaccinated family members of patients—who may be infected—are wandering around the hospital while visiting their loved ones. This means that the waiting room, elevator, restaurant, and other areas need to be closed to clean and warn people who are at risk.
“People don’t realize how easily this spreads,” said Smith.
Morris, a bi-district pediatrician, recalled a conversation with a restless father who didn’t seem to understand the need for isolation. “I know this is bothering you,” she said. “It is also a big inconvenience for a parent who has a child who may be more affected by this disease.”
