State flags local schools and child-care centers most vulnerable to a measles outbreak.

Since the California measles outbreak began at Disneyland in mid-December, 73 cases of the highly infectious—and easily prevented—virus have been confirmed.

State officials have flagged 16 child care centers, preschools and kindergartens in Monterey County as “most vulnerable” to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, with 70 percent or fewer students up to date on their vaccinations in the 2013-14 school year.

The data are from http://www.shotsforschool.org, a project of the California Department of Public Health.* Click on the image to make it larger.

“The risk of measles transmission right now is higher than it has been in California in a long time,” says Kristy Michie, an epidemiologist with the Monterey County Health Department. “Vaccination is the best way to prevent illness and even save lives.”

Michie says the measles virus can hang in the air for hours after an infected person coughs, sneezes or even sings. It is not carried on clothes, but it can live up to 2 hours on surfaces like phones. People can be infectious for days before feeling sick. Those most vulnerable to measles include babies too young for the vaccine, unvaccinated children and people with compromised immune systems.

The disease is so transmissible, people who have been exposed to the virus—and do not have immunity from a vaccine or a previous bout with measles—are 90 percent likely to contract it, Michie says: “Just being in the same room as a person with measles is considered an exposure.”

With no confirmed cases yet in Monterey County, health officials aren’t advising unvaccinated people to steer clear of public areas—for now. But Michie offers a few tips to minimize risk: Wash your hands, cover your cough, stay home when you’re sick, avoid sick people and disinfect shared surfaces.

Look in the Weekly’s Jan. 29-Feb. 4 issue, on stands Thursday, for more on the current measles outbreak. 

*In what may be a glitch on the CDPH's Shots for Schools website, some results do not show up unless one inputs a different zip code. We have run searches using each Monterey County zip code and compiled the results.