Hundreds of U.S. students quarantined amid measles outbreaks
A measles outbreak in upstate South Carolina forced 153 unvaccinated children to leave the classroom and quarantine for at least 21 days.
In Minnesota, where a small outbreak developed last month, 118 students are also in quarantine at Minneapolis-St. Paul after being exposed to the highly contagious virus, health officials announced Friday.
The restrictions mean three weeks of remote learning while parents monitor for fever, rash and other symptoms.
“Communities are having to bear the cost of quarantining so many children,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “Expect more of the same. It’s going to happen more and more frequently.”
Active and continuous transmissions
On Thursday, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said a case of measles was diagnosed in Greenville County, with no known links to seven other cases in neighboring Spartanburg County.
“What this new case tells us is that there is active, unrecognized community transmission of measles,” Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist with the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said during a press briefing Thursday.
The South Carolina cases were identified in two schools (an elementary school and a charter school with students in grades K-12).
Unvaccinated children who have been exposed to the virus will be “excluded” from school for three weeks, the length of time it could take for measles exposure to cause symptoms, Bell said.
“These measures will help us effectively prevent the spread of the measles virus in these schools and in our communities,” she said.
According to data from NBC News, the K-12 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rate in Spartanburg County was 90% for the 2024-25 school year, below the 95% level that doctors say is necessary to protect against an outbreak. In neighboring Greenville County, the MMR vaccination rate was 90.5%.
