Last week, Clark Country, Washington, health officials declared a state of emergency after an outbreak of 23 measles cases—20 of which were unvaccinated children. That number has since grown to 34 cases in the four weeks since the first measles cases were diagnosed. Oregon Live reports that all of the new cases were diagnosed in unvaccinated children between the ages of 1 and 10 years old.
Forbes reports that this led Gov. Jay Inslee to announce his own state of emergency, which allows the state’s military department, emergency operations center, and health officials to coordinate and share resources.
In 2000, the United States was able to joyously declare that measles had been “eliminated” as a disease. In 2018, we are dealing with this. According to Oregon Live, the new cases stem from the Vancouver area, whose unvaccinated population numbers around 33 percent.