N.J. Measles Outbreak

By Jeff Goldman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The measles outbreak in New Jersey has spread to a second county and the number of confirmed cases this year has climbed to 11 as health officials nationally continue to express concerns about the rapid rise in infections.

Seven of the cases are in Ocean County with two more in Monmouth County, health officials said. Two other cases were reported previously in Bergen and Essex counties.

Health officials have listed a dozen locations including Newark Airport, Monmouth Medical Center and locations around Lakewood where people could have been exposed to measles.

An unidentified “adult male from Ocean County” visited locations in Lakewood’s houses of worship, a wedding venue, and yeshiva while infected with measles between March 9 and March 14 and may have exposed others, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. The state declared an outbreak on March 15.

The most recent outbreak is the second in the state over the past six months. The first outbreak sickened 33 people in Ocean and Passaic counties starting in October before it was declared over in January.

The continued spread in New Jersey comes as national cases of measles through the first three months of 2019 has already exceeded last year’s total, according to the Centers for Disease Control. There have been 387 cases through March 28, the CDC reported.

Officials in Rockland County, New York, just north of Bergen County, have banned unvaccinated minors from public places as they attempt to fight a measles outbreak that has infected more than 150 people since October. The county is experiencing New York state’s longest measles outbreak since the disease was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000. Health officials say the best way to stop the disease’s spread is a high vaccination rate in the community.

A federal judge last month denied a request from parents to let 44 unvaccinated children return to the Waldorf School in Rockland County.

People can become ill from measles from 5 to 21 days after being exposed to the virus. Measles symptoms vary but can include high fever, cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes, and a rash.

If contracted, the virus can result in ear infections, pneumonia, swelling of the brain, miscarriage in pregnant women, and even death, particularly for children, according to health officials.

For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die.

If you received the two recommended doses of the measles vaccine as a child, you are considered protected for life and do not need a booster, according to the CDC.

Anyone who visited the following locations may have been exposed to measles:

• Congregation Bais Tefilla, 33 East 8th St, Lakewood (March 9, 2019 from 8:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.; March 10 from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.; March 11 from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.; March 13 from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.; March 14 from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.)
• Beth Medrash Govoha, Bais Yitzchok Hall, Lakewood (March 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; March 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m; March 13 from 12:45 p.m. to 4 p.m.)
• Beth Medrash Govoha, Yoshon Hall, Lakewood (March 10 from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 11 from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 12 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
• Beth Hamedrash Zichron Binyomin, 701 Princeton Ave, Lakewood (March 9 from 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 10 from 9:30 p.m. to midnight; March 11 from 9:30 p.m. to midnight; March 13 from 10:45 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. March 14)
• Lake Terrace Hall, 1690 Oak St, Lakewood (March 11 from 10 p.m. to 12:45 a.m. (March 12)
• Kol Shimshon, 323 Squankum Rd, Lakewood (March 12 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.; March 12 from 9 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.)
• Bais Medrash Tiferes Pinchos, East 5th St and Negba S.t, Lakewood (March 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.)
• Newark Liberty International Airport, Terminal B (March 14 from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. (March 15)
• Tottini Kidswear, 204 Clifton Ave, Lakewood (March 10 from 12 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
• Clover, 115 Clifton Ave., Lakewood (March 10 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Kidichic, 251 2nd St, Lakewood (March 10 from 1:45 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
• Monmouth Medical Center, Emergency Department, Long Branch (March 13 from 7:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m.)

-NJ.com