Linda Bell
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
In a press conference this week, South Carolina State Epidemiologist Linda Bell said that health officials were surprised by the speed at which the outbreak was spreading.
The outbreak is centered in Spartanburg County in the northwest part of the state.
More than 440 people are currently in quarantine.
Public health officials are urging people to get vaccinated against measles to help stop the spread.
We're not necessarily actively seeing people who are pushing back.
Another way to look at that is they're perhaps not accepting our guidance and accepting our recommendations.
More than 530 people are currently in quarantine in South Carolina after being exposed to measles.
That includes more than 80 students at Clemson and Anderson Universities.
The vast majority of cases so far have been in kids and teens who are unvaccinated.
State epidemiologist Linda Bell says 10 people, both children and adults, have been hospitalized.
South Carolina health officials are urging people who are unvaccinated to get two doses of the measles vaccine.
Bell says that uptake of the vaccine remains lower than officials would like to see to stem the outbreak.
South Carolina State Epidemiologist Linda Bell says the measles outbreak in the northwest area of the state, known as the upstate region, is accelerating.
As of Tuesday, Bell said 111 measles cases had been recorded in the region.
The 27 newest of those stemmed from exposures at a church.
The vast majority of cases have occurred in unvaccinated people.
Three cases were in people who had received only one of the recommended two doses of measles vaccine.