The number of people with measles in Texas rose to 146 this week in the outbreak that led to the death of unvaccinated school-age children, health officials said Friday.
Texas' largest case count in 30 years has risen 22 since Tuesday.
The Texas Department of Health says it will cover nine Texas counties, including nearly 100 in Gaines County, with 20 patients hospitalised.
The child who died during the outbreak Tuesday night was the first US death since 2015 due to a highly contagious but preventable respiratory disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The child was treated at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, but the patient said he does not live in Lubbock County, according to the facility.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's top health officer and vaccine critic, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had rejected the incident, saying it was “not unusual.”
But on a Friday afternoon Kennedy said in X's post. His mind went out to his family after being affected by the outbreak and recognized that “the outbreak will have a serious impact on families, children and healthcare workers.”
Kennedy says his agency will continue to fund Texas vaccination programs and end the outbreak will be a “first priority” for him and his team.
The virus is spreading heavily across rural oil-equipped West Texas, with cases concentrated in “close, unbactinized” Mennonite communities, said Lala Anton, a spokesman for the state health department.
Gaines County has a strong homeschooling and private school community.
There is also one of the best school-age children in Texas who opted out of at least one needed vaccine, skipping the doses last year required by nearly 14%.
Texas law allows children to receive school vaccine exemptions on reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.
Anton said Gaines County's unvaccinated number is likely to be significantly higher as data on homeschooled children are not reported.
Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines are safe and very effective in preventing infections and severe cases.
The first shot is recommended for children aged 12-15 months and for children aged 4-6 years for the second.
Most children recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, swelling of the brain, and death.
Vaccination rates have fallen nationwide since the Covid-19 pandemic, with most states below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergarteners. This is the level necessary to protect the community from the outbreak of measles.
The US was considering measles, a respiratory virus that was excluded in 2000. This could survive in the air for up to 2 hours.
Measles cases rose in 2024, including the Chicago outbreak, which has led to more than 60 illnesses.
There are currently nine measles cases in eastern New Mexico, but the state health department said it has nothing to do with the West Texas outbreak.
At a press conference in Austin on Friday, authorities confirmed the first reported case in Travis County since 2019.
Dr. Desmar Walks of the Austin Travis County Health Department said the incident involved unvaccinated infants who were exposed to the virus while on vacation abroad.
Texas Department of Health spokesman Chris Van Dousen said the incident was one of four related to international travel so far this year, and none of them are part of the West Texas outbreak.
The others were two in Houston last month, and were reported this week in Rockwall County, east of Dallas.
In the Travis County incident, the child's family was vaccinated and quarantined at home, and no exposure was expected, Walks said.
She was unable to give the exact age of the infant.
Press conference staff urged people to get vaccinated if they weren't there yet.
“We're here to say it very simply. Measles can kill, ignorance can kill, and vaccine denial will definitely kill,” said Democrat Lloyd Doggett.
School officials from two Texas cities reported that each reported one rubella case this week, but Van Dousen said there was no confirmed case.
