South Carolina's measles outbreak has seemingly slowed in the last weeks due in part to vaccination numbers. State epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell, though, said that the slowing spread is not a sign to stop taking the state's measles outbreak seriously.
In a Wednesday afternoon press conference, she and the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) once again shared their concern of a potential surge in cases to follow school spring break periods when both state residents and visitors will travel.
Case spread surged in the weeks that followed the Christmas holiday season; after late December, DPH reported hundreds of cases a week through January.
Bell said that she understands the festivities are celebrated in different ways, but it boiled down to large gatherings.
"The concerns about these vacation periods are that people tend to travel more," she said.
Still, she said she was hoping for the best in regard to spread.
"We're hopeful that we won't see anything that is similar to what happened prior to the Christmas holidays and during the Christmas holidays," she said in Wednesday's virtual conference. "But nonetheless, we still have to be vigilant about preventing that potential scenario."
The CDC announced Monday that "disease detectives" from its Epidemic Intelligence Services will support on-the-ground activities.
The work is meant to help identify transmission patterns and strengthen containment strategies, among other goals. DPH requested the services and employees. Bell said data will help identify transmission patterns in schools that could help future containment measures. And Bell said DPH will work more closely with schools in measles-related communication.
Just eight new measles cases have been reported in March. DPH will release its next case update Friday.
