At Friday’s Board of Health meeting, Lubbock’s public health director Dr. Katherine Wells confirmed 33 measles cases in the county—including seven tied to Tiny Tots U Learning daycare. Multiple other children are still under investigation. The health department, daycare staff, and the CDC are scrambling to decide who should be quarantined and who needs to be vaccinated immediately.
Normally, the MMR vaccine isn’t given until 12 months, but in this outbreak, local officials are recommending doses for babies as young as six months. Kids who’ve already had one dose and are under four are also being told to get an extra shot.
As for where this all started? Wells said the outbreak likely came from someone traveling to Canada, where a similar outbreak had already hit the same Mennonite population connected to Gaines County. From there, the virus has now spread across three nations—U.S., Canada, and Mexico—and multiple states, including neighboring New Mexico.
Tiny Tots may be the epicenter in Lubbock, but measles clearly didn’t get the memo about borders. Turns out viruses don’t respect state lines, passports, or your “parental rights” yard sign.
