Measles cases in Chicago account for more than half of reported cases in the U.S. so far this year. More than half of the measles cases in the city were in children ages 4 or younger.
Vaccines
The Chicago Department of Public Health says they are fighting the spread through testing and vaccinations — particularly in the Pilsen migrant shelter where the majority of cases are emerging.
The measure set for a final vote by the full City Council on April 17 would require officials to detail how many people are evicted from city shelters every week. In addition, officials must report on the type and number of complaints filed by shelter residents twice per month, according to the proposal.
In all, 31 Chicagoans have been diagnosed with measles since March 4.
City health officials did not immediately identify whether the latest people to contract measles are children or adults, nor did they disclose their condition, as they have with all other cases of measles.
Since the first confirmed case of measles was diagnosed in a shelter resident on Friday, approximately 900 residents have been vaccinated, officials said.
A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on its way to Chicago to assist the Chicago Department of Public Health respond to the apparent measles outbreak, Chicago health officials said.
Case of Measles Confirmed in Pilsen Shelter; City Health Officials Ask Residents to Shelter in Place
The child diagnosed with measles “has recovered and is no longer infectious,” according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Health officials said they are working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed to measles, including at the facilities where the resident sought medical care.
Local health officials are working to notify people who may have been exposed to measles after a northwest Indiana resident sought medical care last week in Chicago while contagious with the infection.
While the public health emergency is officially over, COVID-19 is still making people sick, and health officials say they’ve entered a new front.
More parents are questioning routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect of the political schism that emerged during the pandemic around COVID-19 vaccines, experts say.
The measles case involves an unvaccinated individual and was confirmed by public health officials on Wednesday.
A combination of economic factors, health access and misinformation pushed childhood vaccination figures down to dangerous levels in recent years for many illnesses, including measles, experts said.
RSV fills hospitals with wheezing babies each fall and winter, and the virus struck earlier than usual and especially hard in the U.S. this past year.
Nearly nine out of 10 adults in the U.S. say that the benefits of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines outweigh the risks – a share that’s remained unchanged since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data published Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.