The Associated Press reports 1,088 active measles cases in the United States, mostly centered in Texas.
(Park Record file photo) The state of Utah quietly navigated a measles scare the week before Memorial Day after an infected traveler from Canada landed in the Salt Lake City International Airport. Summit County Nursing Director Derek Moss said there’s no reason to believe the passenger interacted with anyone from Summit County.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.
Utah quietly navigated a measles scare last month after a symptomatic passenger landed at the Salt Lake City International Airport and traveled to Idaho the week before Memorial Day.
Summit County Nursing Director Derek Moss said a passenger traveling from Canada had an active measles case and landed in Salt Lake City on May 19. The passenger then drove to southern Idaho but seemingly did not make any stops along the route.
Days later, on May 23, the same individual drove back to Salt Lake City from Idaho and boarded another plane at the airport. The person has since been placed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Do Not Board” list, effectively prohibiting them from airline travel in the United States.
State health officials alerted Summit County Epidemiologist Nancy Porter of the situation, as well as other health departments across the state. Moss said there is no reason to believe the passenger interacted with anyone from Summit County at this time, however.
“The state has decided not to do a health advisory or any public notices at this time,” Moss told the Summit County Board of Health on Monday. “They determined at this point he was low-risk, and they didn’t want to cause chaos. That was the rationale.”
Moss said the state believes the individual was fully vaccinated, but one of the two doses the person received was not a vaccination approved in the United States.
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