Churches, movies, restaurants: Tracking measles around Utah
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Utah's measles patients have taken the virus to churches, movies, schools, restaurants and shopping centers in recent weeks, according to health officials' latest reports.
By the numbers: With 44 new cases, last week brought Utah's biggest jump in diagnoses since measles began spreading last year.
The intrigue: Health officials are increasingly identifying places of leisure, commerce or worship as possible exposure sites as they track patients' past movements.
- Anyone who may have crossed paths with them should remain alert for 21 days to symptoms like fever, congestion, rashes or red, watery eyes.
The latest: At least one patient was at the MegaPlex Theatres at Centerville's Legacy Crossing for five hours on March 1, per state health officials. Other possible exposures occurred at:
- Sandy's Los Garcia Mexican Restaurant, March 3
- Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, March 2
- Alf's Restaurant at Alta, Feb. 27
- Cafe Rio in West Bountiful, Feb. 28
- Plates and Palates, Feb. 27
- Cafe Zupas in Farmington, Feb. 26
- Walmart, Dollar Tree and Deseret Industries in Price, Feb. 28
Zoom out: Check state health officials' list for possible exposure locations statewide.
Zoom in: Patients with active measles infections were also at Latter-day Saint meetinghouses in Price, Paradise, Provo and Lehi on March 1.
- Leaders of the Utah-based faith encourage vaccination, but immunizations have fallen drastically in the state in recent years — with religious exemptions driving school waivers.
Threat level: Measles, a preventable disease that was declared eliminated in the U.S. in previous decades, is so contagious that if one person has it, 9 of 10 unvaccinated people nearby will be infected, per the CDC.
The big picture: More than 400 cases have been identified in Utah since June — nearly 12 per 100,000 people.
- That's more than 20 times the state's next-highest measles rate in the past quarter century — 0.5 per 100,000 people, in 2011.