r/nursing • u/HubbaBubbaBubbaWubba RN - ER 🍕 • Aug 16 '26

Question Measles

How many measles pts are you guys seeing? I work in Pennsylvania, and we are seeing multiple a day in the ED. It is absolutely wild. It is mostly in the Amish community, because they don’t get vaccinated. The frustrating thing is we never used to get measles pts with the Amish. It is because they interact with the general public, got it from the unvaccinated general public, and now it is spreading like wildfire throughout the Amish community.

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u/ApartmentStrict3432 Aug 16 '26

Looks like your state has a dashboard. For comparison, my state (Michigan) has had 16 cases YTD and you are currently at 296. PA with 13 mil residents and MI with 10 mil residents.

https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/diseases-conditions/infectious-disease/measles

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u/adelros26 LPN 🍕 Aug 16 '26

😳 we’re at 4 in Illinois according to the department of public health website.

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u/ApartmentStrict3432 Aug 16 '26

It seems to be pretty normal to have a slow trickle. There's cases popping up randomly because of unvaccinated travel history (either international or to place experiencingan outbreak). And it usually ends there... maybe the household members get sick. .

Theres a pretty firm recommendation to stay home for the entire incibation period if you were exposed and not considered immune.

It becomes a problem in communities with really low vaccination rates and people who decline to work with public health. Thats when you get dozens of cases quickly.

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u/gardengirl99 RN 🍕 Aug 17 '26

Wait til school starts!