Texas leaders fiddle while measles burns

The West Texas measles outbreak is officially exploding, more than doubling last week, with 20 hospitalized by the end of the week. Meanwhile, top state officials? Radio silence — and action silence. The Trib notes other states have excluded unvaccinated kids from schools during active outbreaks, or done quarantines. One out-of-state health official, Dr. Alan Melnick, is on the record as basically being appalled that unvaccinated kids in Gaines County have been allowed to remain in school. That's despite state law requiring a 21-day exclusion — in certain circumstances.

“I’m just blown away,” he said. “This is not politics. I’m just talking science and medicine here.”

School districts in Texas are required to exclude unvaccinated students for at least 21 days after they are exposed to measles. Because measles is so contagious and can remain in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left the area, large numbers of students could be excluded from school at once, Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Lara Anton said.

But to proactively exclude unvaccinated students before they are known to be exposed requires the Texas health commissioner to declare a public health emergency, which can be activated when there is a health threat that potentially poses a risk of death or severe illness or harm to the public. Anton said there are no plans to declare an emergency at this time, noting that more than 90% of Texans are vaccinated for measles.

There's the basics.

Per the first link, here's why it's so bad:

In Texas, the virus has concentrated on the Mennonite community in Gaines County. One of the county’s local public school district with only 143 students, according to 2023-24 school year data, has the highest school vaccine exemption rate in the state — 48% of Loop school district students have conscientious exemptions from required vaccinations. In 2023-24, less than half of all Loop kindergartners — 46% — were given the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, according to state data.

Declare the emergency, boot the kids proactively, and quarantine them otherwise. Or, as their Mennonite parents would understand? Make it a community shunning.

And, yes, "shunning" is more Amish within the Anabaptist world, but Old Colony Mennonites have similar. Here's more about the group in Gaines County. Having lived in both Hobbs and Odessa long ago, I can confirm their isolatedness.

I mean, even Brainworm Bobby is urging a measles vaccination. (OTOH, he's also urging use of Vitamin A; you can't remove the pseudomedical quackery from him.)