There are now eight cases of measles in Broward County after two additional kids contracted the illness.
Six pupils at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston have been diagnosed with measles, according to the Broward school district, throughout the past week or two.
The two new cases were confirmed on Sunday by the Florida Department of Health. It’s unknown if Manatee Bay Elementary was attended by the two most recent measles cases. One youngster is younger than five years old, and the other is between the ages of five and nine.
During the epidemic, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo sent parents a contentious letter last week allowing them to send their unvaccinated children to school.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, whose name appears above Ladapo’s on the letterhead, nominated Ladapo to lead the Department of Health, who “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance,” Ladapo wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise against Ladapo’s action.
As for the health department, “I don’t know why they wouldn’t follow the CDC recommendations,” said doctor Thresia Gambon, head of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Florida chapter and a practitioner in Miami and Broward, the county where the current measles outbreak is occurring. “Measles spreads quite easily. It is quite concerning.”
For three weeks following exposure, unvaccinated students are advised by the CDC to stay home from school. Students are deemed exposed to the extremely contagious measles virus just by sharing a cafeteria or classroom with an infected person, as the virus spreads through minute droplets in the air and on surfaces.
Furthermore, an infection can spread from a measles patient even in the absence of fever, coughing, rash, or other symptoms. Approximately 1 in 5 measles patients require hospitalization, 1 in 10 get ear infections that may result in irreversible hearing loss, and 1 in 1,000 suffer fatal respiratory and neurological consequences.
Manatee Bay Elementary offered parents last week the choice to keep their children at home for three weeks while the school provided teacher-free online continuing education.
There is a measles outbreak in 11 states this year, including Florida.