Urgent warning as thousands of Utah students may have been exposed to measles for a WEEK

Thousands of high school students in Utah may have been exposed to measles after an infected student continued attending classes for a week. 

The Salt Lake County Health Department said Wednesday that a student positive for measles attended school on February 6 and the entire week from February 9 through February 13 while infectious. 

Health officials said the student had not received both doses of their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and warned that other unvaccinated individuals had a 90 percent chance of becoming infected if exposed. 

The student was infected at a high school activity in the last three weeks since they started showing symptoms. No other identifying details were shared about the student or the source of exposure.  

Notifications were sent to the whole 2,000-student school, with more specific notices sent to families whose students likely had contact with the sick individual, the department said. A third notice was sent to families with students who are not vaccinated.

Salt Lake County Health Department Communication Director Nicholas Rupp warned that early measles symptoms can mirror a common cold or the flu, so vigilance about exposure is crucial.  

Measles, which is highly infectious, is characterized by cough, fever, a distinctive, blotchy rash that starts in the face before spreading down the body and tiny white spots inside the mouth called Koplik spots. 

‘If you’re not feeling well, especially if you may have been exposed to measles through some other situation in the state, since we do have measles circulating throughout Utah, it’s really important to stay home so you don’t potentially infect others,’ Rupp said. 

The warning comes as Utah has confirmed 300 cases of measles since fall of 2025, 194 of which were in Southwest Utah. 

The vast majority of cases, 255, were in unvaccinated individuals, while 22 had unknown vaccination status and 23 had gotten both doses. The MMR vaccine is considered 97 percent effective in preventing infection. 

The shot is typically given once between ages 12 and 15 months and again between ages four and six.

Of those infected, 25 have been hospitalized, and 185 infections were in people under 18. 

In Utah, 89 percent of kindergarteners have received both MMR vaccine doses, below the CDC’s 95 percent threshold for maintaining herd immunity and preventing widespread infections. One in 10 kindergarteners in the state also have either a medical or religious exemption for not being vaccinated, CDC data shows. 

Nationwide, 92.5 percent of kindergarteners are fully vaccinated against measles and 3.6 percent have an exemption.

Measles spreads through direct contact with infectious droplets or through the air. Patients with a measles infection are contagious from four days before the rash through four days after the rash appears. Enclosed areas like airports and planes are extremely risky locations for disease transmission. 

It first invades the respiratory system, then spreads to the lymph nodes and throughout the body. As a result, the virus can affect the lungs, brain and central nervous system. 

While measles sometimes causes milder symptoms, including diarrhea, sore throat and achiness, it leads to pneumonia in roughly six percent of otherwise healthy children, and more often in malnourished children.

Though the brain swelling that measles can trigger is rare, occurring in about one in 1,000 cases, it is deadly in roughly 15 to 20 percent of those who develop it, while about 20 percent are left with permanent neurological damage such as brain damage, deafness or intellectual disability. 

Measles also severely damages a child’s immune system, making them susceptible to other potentially devastating bacterial and viral infections they were previously protected against. 

Before MMR vaccines became available in the 1960s, measles caused epidemics with up to 2.6 million global deaths every year. By 2023, that number had fallen to roughly 107,000 deaths.