LA County health officials told more than 900 college students and staff members to stay home this week, in one of the largest quarantine orders in state history.
The efforts are the result of public health officials’ desperation as 2019 shapes up to be the worst measles year in decades in the United States. So far this year, 625 people have been diagnosed with measles nationwide, the highest case count since the disease was considered eliminated in 2000.On Thursday evening, UCLA senior Johnny Schmidt was riding a city bus when he received an unusually long text message. It was from the UCLA dean of students.
Measles spreads through coughing and sneezing, but the virus can linger in the air for up to two hours after the sick person leaves the room. If a measles patient touched a desk or a doorknob, people can pick up measles that way too. Schmidt said he likely would have stayed in his apartment anyway and just informed his roommates and health officials.As of Friday afternoon, the number of people quarantined at UCLA had fallen to 34, with only one student who lives on campus still under the quarantine orders, according to county officials. Officials said they had made accommodations for that student to not stay in dorm buildings but did not provide further details.
Health officials said they would lift the quarantine orders as soon as people showed documentation that they had been immunized or had a lab test to verify their immunity. Without that proof, people exposed at UCLA could be quarantined until Tuesday and those at Cal State L.A. until Thursday. Such a large quarantine order is rare, in part because it is difficult to identify everyone a measles patient might have come into contact with on the subway or at a Starbucks. School rosters and records make that task easier.
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