Measles outbreak: Health director says response could cost hundreds of thousands

The ongoing local outbreak of measles has close to three dozen confirmed cases as of Monday afternoon, with Gov. Jay Inslee declaring a public health emergency and the county director of health believing that cases will continue to climb in February.

Clark County Public Health announced Sunday that there were 35 confirmed cases with 11 suspected. On Jan. 25 Inslee announced the declaration, directing state agencies to use Washington resources “and do everything reasonably possible to assist affected areas.” The proclamation will allow use of the nationwide Emergency Management Assistance Compact, through which Washington can request additional medical resources from other states.

Following Inslee’s declaration several local lawmakers acknowledged the help that it would provide. State Sens. Lynda Wilson and Ann Rivers alongside State Reps. Paul Harris, Brandon Vick and Larry Hoff said in the statement that apart from allowing the use of state resources the declaration “brings a heightened public awareness about this dangerous and preventable disease.”

Prior to Inslee’s announcement Clark County Public Health Director Alan Melnick spoke to Clark County Council about the ongoing outbreak, explaining it was likely the county would be dealing with new cases through February. 

Melnick said measles was “exquisitely contagious,” explaining that two hours after a contagious individual left a room susceptible people could still catch the disease. The initial symptoms were also similar enough to other ailments during the current time of year that those unvaccinated wouldn’t know if what they were experiencing was measles or something more benign.

Regarding costs, Melnick said that within the first several days the outbreak had cost the county $31,000, adding that the total cost for the outbreak would likely be several hundreds of thousands of dollars by its end. 

Melnick said his department has had to shift staff from other programs such as the Nurse-Family Partnership, employees whose usual workloads include high-risk individuals like young children, or even food inspectors whose usual work involves billable expenses the county could not collect on.

“This basically impacts everything we do,” he said. 

The Clark County Council made their own public health emergency declaration Jan. 18. Melnick said that declaration is allowing the department to use mutual aid agreements to expand their resources. Speaking before Inslee’s decoration Melnick added such a measure would help bring in federal assets as well.

Melnick said all cases were at ages where the individuals should have been vaccinated based on medical guidelines. 

“All of those cases could have been prevented by a very safe ... and very cheap vaccine,” Melnick said. He explained schools had been cooperative through the outbreak with implementing exclusion policies for unvaccinated students and staff to stay home during the incubation period following discovery of a case.

Melnick said school district superintendents are contacted directly if a confirmed case is found to be someone at one of their buildings. Shared spaces between two or more schools as well as buses that handle multiple routes to different buildings can exacerbate the outbreak given the long time the disease can linger in an area.

Melnick expressed a desire that after the end of the outbreak his department and the schools could work together on outbreak preparedness, better tracking of immunization status and providing more education to parents about vaccines. 

Melnick asked for councilors to follow up with the county school advisory committee as to whether vaccinations would be a topic for them once the outbreak had ended.

Councilor Julie Olson stressed the importance of vaccination to stop future outbreaks of the preventable diseases.

“The idea that it is not dangerous is simply wrong,” Olson remarked about the disease. Melnick said before measles vaccinations became widely available in the 1960s, 400 to 500 individuals died from measles and roughly 50,000 were hospitalized annually. 

“If we lose one child because of this … that’s a tragedy that’s preventable,” he said. 

{{tncms-inline content="<p class="p1">Age</p> <p class="p2">• 1 to 10 years: 25 cases</p> <p class="p2">• 11 to 18 years: nine cases</p> <p class="p2">• 19 to 29 years: one case</p> <p class="p1">Immunization status</p> <p class="p2">• Unverified: four cases</p> <p class="p2">• Unimmunized: 31 cases</p> <p class="p2">• Hospitalization: one case</p>" id="525eb525-7434-4466-aa80-8ffc4a8d056a" style-type="bio" title="Outbreak at a glance" type="relcontent"}}

{{tncms-inline content="<p class="p1">Health care facilities</p> <p class="p2">• PeaceHealth Urgent Care – Memorial, 3400 Main St.</p> <p class="p2">Noon to 5:30 pm Monday, Dec. 31.</p> <p class="p2">4:30 to 7:50 pm Saturday, Jan. 19.</p> <p class="p2">• Magnolia Family Clinic, 2207 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland from 11:30 am to 3 pm Tuesday, Jan. 8.</p> <p class="p2">• The Vancouver Clinic, 700 NE 87th Ave., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">3:30 to 7 pm Friday, Jan. 11.</p> <p class="p2">10:45 am to 1:30 pm Saturday Jan. 12.</p> <p class="p2">4:30 to 7:30 pm Sunday, Jan. 13.</p> <p class="p2">9:30 am to 1 pm Monday, Jan. 14.</p> <p class="p2">• Vancouver Clinic Columbia Tech Center, 501 SE 172nd Ave., Vancouver from 11:30 am to 4 pm Friday, Jan. 11</p> <p class="p2">• Kaiser Cascade Park Medical Office, 12607 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">1 to 8:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 12</p> <p class="p2">7 pm Tuesday, Jan. 15 to 2 am Wednesday, Jan. 16.</p> <p class="p2">• PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Emergency Department, 400 NE Mother Joseph Pl., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">10 pm Saturday, Jan. 12 to 4 am Sunday, Jan. 13.</p> <p class="p2">12:30 to 8:30 pm Sunday, Jan. 13.</p> <p class="p2">• Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center Emergency Department, 2211 NE 139th St., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">8:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 12 to 1 am Sunday, Jan. 13.</p> <p class="p2">5:45 pm Sunday, Jan. 13 and 12:30 am Monday, Jan. 14.</p> <p class="p2">11:40 pm Monday, Jan. 14 to 5:10 am Tuesday, Jan. 15.</p> <p class="p2">• Kaiser Orchards Medical Office, 7101 NE 137th Ave., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">1:55 to 6:10 pm Monday, Jan. 14.</p> <p dir="ltr">1:50 to 7:30 pm Thursday, Jan. 24.</p> <p class="p2">• Rose Urgent Care and Family Practice, 18 NW 20th Ave., Battle Ground from 3:45 to 8 pm Monday, Jan. 14.</p> <p class="p2">• The Vancouver Clinic Salmon Creek, 2525 NE 139th St., Vancouver:</p> <p class="p2">8:15 am to noon Friday, Jan. 18</p> <p class="p2">4:30 to 9:30 pm Wednesday, Jan. 23</p> <p class="p2">• Kaiser Cascade Park Medical Office, 12607 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">12:30 to 7:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 19.</p> <p class="p2">•Legacy GoHealth Urgent Care Cascade Park, 305 SE Chkalov Drive, Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">6:25 to 10:15 pm Tuesday, Jan. 22.</p> <p class="p2">Child care facilities</p> <p dir="ltr">• St. Paul Christian Daycare, 1309 Franklin St., Vancouver:</p> <p dir="ltr">Wednesday, Jan. 16</p> <p dir="ltr">Thursday, Jan. 17</p> <p dir="ltr">Friday, Jan. 18</p> <p dir="ltr">Wednesday, Jan. 23</p> <p dir="ltr">• Yelena’s Daycare, 17007 NE 23rd St., Vancouver:</p> <p dir="ltr">Tuesday, Jan. 22</p> <p dir="ltr">Wednesday, Jan. 23</p> <p class="p1">Schools</p> <p class="p2">• Orchards Elementary School, 11405 NE 69th St., Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 14.</p> <p class="p2">• Cornerstone Christian Academy, 10818 NE 117th Ave., Vancouver on Friday, Jan. 4</p> <p class="p2">• Vancouver Home Connection, 301 S. Lieser Road, Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 7; Wednesday, Jan. 9; and Friday, Jan. 11.</p> <p class="p2">• Hearthwood Elementary School, 801 NE Hearthwood Blvd., Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 7; Tuesday, Jan. 8; and Wednesday, Jan. 9.</p> <p class="p2">• Slavic Christian Academy, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 7.</p> <p class="p2">• Image Elementary School, 4400 NE 122nd Ave., Vancouver on Tuesday, Jan. 8 and Wednesday, Jan. 9.</p> <p class="p2">• Eisenhower Elementary School, 9201 NW Ninth Ave., Vancouver on Tuesday, Jan. 8 and Wednesday, Jan. 9.</p> <p class="p2">• Tukes Valley Primary School, 20601 NE 167th Ave., Battle Ground on Tuesday, Jan. 8.</p> <p class="p2">• Tukes Valley Middle School, 20601 NE 167th Ave., Battle Ground on Tuesday, Jan. 8</p> <p class="p2">• Maple Grove School, 601B SW Eaton Blvd., Battle Ground on Tuesday, Jan. 8 and Wednesday, Jan. 9.</p> <p class="p2">• River HomeLink, 601 SW Eaton Blvd., Battle Ground on Tuesday, Jan. 8 and Wednesday, Jan. 9.</p> <p class="p2">• Evergreen High School, 14300 NE 18th St., Vancouver on Wednesday, Jan. 9.</p> <p class="p1">Other locations</p> <p class="p2">• Dollar Tree, 11501 NE 76th St., Vancouver from 8:10 to 10:50 pm Tuesday, Jan. 15.</p> <p class="p2">• GracePoint Christian Church, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Vancouver from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday, Jan. 7.</p> <p class="p2">• A Children’s Dentist, 101 NW 12th Ave., Battle Ground from 1:30 to 6 pm Tuesday, Jan. 8.</p> <p class="p2">• Fisher Investments, 5525 NW Fisher Creek Drive, Camas</p> <p class="p2">6:20 am to 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 10</p> <p class="p2">6:20 am to 7 pm Friday, Jan. 11</p> <p class="p2">6:20 am to 7 pm Monday, Jan. 14</p> <p class="p2">6:20 am to 7 pm Tuesday, Jan. 15</p> <p class="p2">• Moda Center (Trail Blazers game), 1 N Center Court St., Portland from 5:30 to 11:30 pm Friday, Jan. 11.</p> <p class="p2">• Verizon Wireless at Cascade Station, 10103 NE Cascades Parkway, Portland from 5 to 11 pm Monday, Jan. 14.</p> <p class="p2">• Church of Christ Our Savior, 3612 F St., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">9:30 am to noon Sunday, Jan. 6</p> <p class="p2">6 to 11:30 pm Sunday, Jan. 6</p> <p class="p2">9:10 am to 3 pm Sunday, Jan. 13</p> <p class="p2">• Church of Truth, 7250 NE 41st St., Vancouver from 11 am to 4:30 pm Sunday, Jan. 6.</p> <p class="p2">• Portland International Airport, 7000 NE Airport Way, Portland from 10:45 am to 3:45 pm on Monday, Jan. 7. More specifically, anyone who spent time in Concourse D and the Delta Sky Lounge during that time period.</p> <p class="p2">• Costco, 4849 NE 138th Ave., Portland from 1 to 5:30 pm Tuesday, Jan. 8.</p> <p class="p2">• Amazon Lockers, 1131 SW Jefferson St., Portland from 3:30 pm to 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 10.</p> <p class="p2">• Rejuvenation, 1100 SE Grand Ave. Portland from 3:30 to 7:30 pm Thursday, Jan. 10.</p> <p class="p2">• Pho Green Papaya, 13215 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver from 7:30 to 10:30 pm Thursday, Jan. 10.</p> <p class="p2">• Chuck’s Produce, 13215 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver from 8 to 11:45 pm Thursday, Jan. 10 and 2:30 to 5:30 pm Friday, Jan. 11.</p> <p class="p2">• Ikea, 10280 NE Cascades Parkway, Portland from 4:30 to 8:30 pm Friday, Jan. 11.</p> <p class="p2">• Dollar Tree, 7809-B Vancouver Plaza Drive, Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">6:30 to 9:10 pm Tuesday, Jan. 15.</p> <p class="p2">• Portland International Airport, baggage claim and south end of the ticket counter (near Alaska Airlines and Starbucks), 7000 NE Airport Way, Portland</p> <p class="p2">7:30 to 11 pm Tuesday, Jan. 15.</p> <p class="p2">• Costco, 4849 NE 138th Ave., Portland</p> <p class="p2">5:30 to 8:40 pm Wednesday, Jan. 16.</p> <p class="p2">• Vancouver Division of Children, Youth and Families, 907 Harney St., Vancouver from 12:15 to 5:15 pm Friday, Jan. 18.</p> <p class="p2"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5ff5c59c-7fff-9490-1058-fd6d7d6ae4eb"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5ff5c59c-7fff-9490-1058-fd6d7d6ae4eb">• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, OMSI, 1945 SE Water Ave., Portland</span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5ff5c59c-7fff-9490-1058-fd6d7d6ae4eb"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5ff5c59c-7fff-9490-1058-fd6d7d6ae4eb">2:30 to 7 pm Saturday, Jan. 19.</span></span></p> <p class="p2">• Golden Corral, 11801 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">4 to 9 pm Saturday, Jan. 19.</p> <p class="p2"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7be23c21-7fff-b655-917c-170b3c5f0cd0"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7be23c21-7fff-b655-917c-170b3c5f0cd0">• New Life Mission Church, 3300 NE 172nd Place, Portland</span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7be23c21-7fff-b655-917c-170b3c5f0cd0"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7be23c21-7fff-b655-917c-170b3c5f0cd0">9:30 am to 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 20.</span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-f6e1a03e-7fff-45f6-c9f3-fc577806a498"><span>• Trader Joes, 305 SE Chkalov Drive, Vancouver from 12:30 to 3:40 pm Monday, Jan. 21.</span></span></span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span><span><span><span><span><span>• Dollar Tree, 305 SE Chkalov Drive, Vancouver</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span><span><span><span><span><span>1:10 to 4 pm Monday, Jan. 21.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>• Walmart Supercenter, 14505 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="p2"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>1:30 to 5 pm Monday, Jan. 21.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="p2">• Vancouver Women, Infant and Children (WIC) office, 5411 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver</p> <p class="p2">2:50 to 6:15 pm Wednesday, Jan. 23.</p> <p class="p2">• Tower Mall public areas (entrances, hallways), 5411 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver from 2:50 to 6:15 pm Wednesday, Jan. 23.</p>" id="aaa7bd5a-8044-4c6e-91ef-27e9f40cb9ac" style-type="bio" title="Exposure sites and times" type="relcontent"}}