logo
Measles cases jump to 46 in eight southwest counties as new Kansas law restricts health officials

Measles cases jump to 46 in eight southwest counties as new Kansas law restricts health officials

Yahoo30-04-2025
Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group, spoke recently at a University of Kansas Health System panel, addressing concerns about the measles outbreak. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from KU Health video)
TOPEKA — New legislation may make it more difficult for public health officials to manage a measles outbreak, which has increased by nine cases.
Measles cases in Kansas jumped from 37 to 46 over the past week, with all cases located in southwest counties, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment data released Wednesday morning.
KDHE spokeswoman Jill Bronaugh said the state agency is working with local health departments to communicate about measles and to educate the public.
But the Legislature's passage of Senate Bill 29 may complicate the ability of local health officials to react to the increasing number of measles cases. This bill removed the ability of local health officials to ban public gatherings during infectious disease outbreaks and added the expectation that health officials show probable cause if they quarantine or isolate individuals during an outbreak.
The bill says those who are quarantined can file a civil lawsuit that must be heard within 72 hours if they believe the decision was unjust. Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill, but the Republican-led Legislature overturned her veto.
'Taking away the authority of public health officials to prohibit public gatherings and issue quarantines, when necessary, contradicts effective, evidence-based health intervention advice, but we will do all we can to protect the health of the communities we are entrusted to serve,' Bronaugh said.
Sen. Bill Clifford, a Republican ophthalmologist from Garden City, expressed concern during hearings that not all cases of measles are being reported.
'This weekend I spoke to several pediatricians. In an affected family, one member is going in,' he said, speaking at a time when there were 31 reported measles cases. 'In fact, they won't allow them in the pediatric clinic. We have well babies there and we don't want to infect them. That one family member is the signal case of what's going on in the family, and the families are not coming in.'
KDHE updated its measles dashboard Wednesday morning to highlight the number of cases and the affected counties: Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Haskell, Kiowa, Morton and Stevens. In addition, it shows vaccination data, which indicates that 39 people with measles were unvaccinated, one did not have age-appropriate vaccinations, three did not have verified vaccination status and three were age-appropriately vaccinated.
One person has been hospitalized.
Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System, said fully vaccinated people can get the disease, but typically have fewer complications and overall less severity of illness. With one dose of the vaccine, people have 93% protection from measles, and after two doses, 97% protection, he said.
Measles was considered eliminated in 2000 but has since popped up throughout the United States, typically in unvaccinated communities. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group, joined a panel of University of Kansas Health System experts to talk about how we got to where we are today and to address vaccine skepticism.
Poland explained what it means to eliminate a disease.
'You need a robust surveillance system. You need to know are you seeing cases, and are they measles,' he said. 'Then what you have to have is documentation of interruption of indigenous transmission for at least 12 months. We are very likely going to lose that, and that is a real shame because achieving that in 2000 was a monumental public health achievement.'
Indigenous transmission refers to the spread of a disease within a population and is not coming from contact that began with someone outside the community, such as during a trip abroad.
Poland said the vaccine that has been available since 1968 is 'well documented to be protective and to have minimal side effects.'
'It always bothers me when people say, 'Well, isn't natural immunity better.' Before there was a measles vaccine in the U.S., essentially every child got it, so three to four million people a year. Forty-eight thousand of those kids ended up sick enough that they were hospitalized, 1,000 of them developed encephalitis, and 500 of them on average each year died. That's what natural immunity gets you,' Poland said.
Side effects of the vaccine are a few cases of low platelets, transient fever and possibly a rash, he said.
No known deaths related to the MMR vaccine given to healthy people have been reported, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Rare cases of deaths from vaccine side effects among children are connected to those who are immune compromised, and it is recommended they not get the vaccine.
Unfortunately, Hawkinson said, times have changed in terms of how much people listen to medical professionals and how they assess scientific research. Right now is different than in 2019, when the most recent measles outbreak occurred.
'There are major points and reasons why this is much different,' he said. 'I think it is in the context of extreme disinformation and misinformation and mistrust of medicine and public health. Mistrust of science. We have to get back to knowing and understanding what is true, but it is just so difficult out there.'
Hawkinson pointed to an overall decreased willingness to listen to and adhere to medical guidance and recommendations.
'We don't do that when we listen to our plumbers, our mechanics, our lawyers,' he said.
And, he said, overall vaccination rates have declined.
'Many areas locally here in Kansas and Missouri are down to 90% (of people vaccinated),' he said. 'You will only see more patients developing this disease and, unfortunately, the complications that come along with it.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Air Force's top uniformed officer is retiring early in latest Trump military shake-up
Air Force's top uniformed officer is retiring early in latest Trump military shake-up

San Francisco Chronicle​

time29 minutes ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Air Force's top uniformed officer is retiring early in latest Trump military shake-up

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force's top uniformed officer is set to retire early in the most recent shake-up of military leadership during President Donald Trump's second term. Gen. David Allvin will continue serving as the service's chief of staff until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate, the Air Force announced Monday. He expects to retire around Nov. 1, two years into his four-year term, it said in a statement. Allvin joins other top military officials who have stepped down or been fired by Trump's Republican administration during a broader leadership upheaval, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's plans to slash the number of senior military positions in what he calls an efficiency effort and a purge of top officers who were believed to endorse diversity, equity and inclusion programs. For example, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in February. Brown was the second Black general to serve as chairman, and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine later took over the role. Allvin, a command pilot with more than 4,600 flying hours, was appointed Air Force chief of staff by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, serving since November 2023. Before that, he was vice chief of staff during Trump's first term. 'I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as the 23rd Air Force Chief of Staff and I'm thankful for Secretary Meink, Secretary Hegseth and President Trump's faith in me to lead our service,' Allvin said in the Air Force's statement. ___

Cuomo campaign denies bombshell report about Trump's influence in the NYC mayoral race
Cuomo campaign denies bombshell report about Trump's influence in the NYC mayoral race

Fox News

time37 minutes ago

  • Fox News

Cuomo campaign denies bombshell report about Trump's influence in the NYC mayoral race

Despite a report to the contrary, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that they aren't expecting help from anyone in the race for Gracie Mansion, including former President Donald Trump, despite a report to the contrary. POLITICO's New York Playbook reported that Cuomo is "counting on" Trump to urge Republicans to vote for the former governor instead of the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, in this November's mayoral election. According to audio obtained by the outlet, Cuomo told a Hamptons crowd on Saturday that Sliwa isn't a "serious candidate" and Trump himself would say, "you'll be wasting your vote on Sliwa." When reached for comment regarding the report, Cuomo's senior advisor, Rich Azzopardi, explained that Cuomo was responding to "what he heard to be a hypothetical about how it could become a two-person race and was speculating." Cuomo is New York City's "only chance" of defeating the Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, the Cuomo campaign doubled down on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sliwa has distanced himself from the president, maintaining that it wouldn't be helpful for Trump to intervene in New York City's mayoral race, after The New York Times' report that Trump has been speaking with Cuomo and his associates about how to defeat Mamdani in November. Trump and Cuomo have both denied the phone call ever happened, and the former governor said he wouldn't accept a Trump endorsement. The Republican nominee told Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning that Cuomo's campaign is "a mess," and said, "desperate people do desperate things." "It's just sad that Andrew Cuomo thinks a Trump headline will save him," Sliwa said in a statement. And Sliwa trolled Cuomo, arguing that "if he actually left the Hamptons," he would see the impact of his policies on New Yorkers," tying crime to his "disastrous no-bail law" and his controversial COVID-19 policies. Speaking to reporters at a campaign event in Manhattan on Monday, Cuomo confirmed that he attended the fundraiser at media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein's home in Southampton on Saturday. But Cuomo denied that during the fundraiser, he discussed Trump with former NYC City Council President, Andrew Stein, who co-hosted the event in the Hamptons. "Let's put it this way: I knew the president very well," Cuomo said in the Hamptons, according to POLITICO, before adding, "I believe there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him. I also believe that he's not going to want to fight with me in New York if he can avoid it." The comments followed Mamdani's week-long anti-Trump tour across New York City's Five Boroughs. Day by day, the self-described Democratic socialist spotlighted how Trump's sweeping second-term agenda is impacting New Yorkers, as he worked to tie Cuomo to Trump. The Mamdani campaign seized on the latest reporting, releasing a statement on Tuesday morning, arguing that "Andrew Cuomo has been caught red-handed." "Since he's too afraid to say it to New Yorkers' faces, we'll make it clear: Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's choice for mayor," Mamdani campaign spokeswoman, Dora Pekec, said. Cuomo's campaign was quick to respond, calling it "silly." "Mamdani is clearly trying to deflect from answering questions" about his own record, including his support for decriminalizing prostitution, for which Cuomo held a press conference criticizing on Monday. Mamdani has said he would be Trump's "worst nightmare" if elected in November. Trump has repeatedly criticized Mamdani, calling him a "100% Communist Lunatic." The White House has dismissed the idea that Trump is planning to get involved in the race. "As President Trump has repeatedly stated, he has no intention of getting involved or making an endorsement in the New York City mayoral race," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement. Cuomo lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June but decided to stay in the race as an independent candidate. In the closing weeks ahead of New York City's Democratic Party mayoral primary, as he appeared to be cruising toward capturing his party's nomination, Cuomo focused his campaign's spotlight on Trump. "Trump's coming for New York. Who do you think can stop him?" the narrator in a Cuomo campaign ad said over images of the June rioting in Los Angeles sparked by Trump's immigration crackdown. "Trump's at the city gates. We need someone experienced to slam them shut," the narrator said, as he suggested that Cuomo was the most experienced candidate to push back against the president's agenda. Cuomo pledged, if elected mayor, to protect New York City from what he suggested could be a possible future federal crackdown against immigration protests in the city. And he vowed to mount a national campaign to try and thwart Trump's agenda. But Mamdani's stunning victory over Cuomo and nine other candidates last month to capture the Democratic Party nomination rocked the race for mayor in the nation's most populous city. And as Cuomo resets as he runs in the mayoral general election as an independent candidate, references to Trump have plummeted. Adams is also running as an independent candidate. Particularly on immigration, the incumbent mayor has developed a relationship with Trump. "I helped him out a little bit," Trump admitted last month, referencing his Justice Department dropping corruption charges against the mayor earlier this year.

Texas Democrat spends night in Legislature protesting police shadowing in redistricting battle
Texas Democrat spends night in Legislature protesting police shadowing in redistricting battle

Los Angeles Times

timean hour ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Texas Democrat spends night in Legislature protesting police shadowing in redistricting battle

AUSTIN, Texas — A Democratic Texas lawmaker opted to spend the night in the state House chamber and remain there Tuesday rather than allow a law enforcement officer to shadow her while Republicans try to prevent further delays to redrawing U.S. House maps. Rep. Nicole Collier overnight stay stemmed from Republicans in the Texas House requiring returning Democrats to sign what the Democrats called 'permission slips,' agreeing to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor. Collier, of Fort Worth, refused and remained on the House floor Monday night. A message seeking comment was sent Tuesday to the Department of Public Safety. The Democrats' return to Texas puts the Republican-run Legislature in position to satisfy Trump's demands, possibly later this week, as California Democrats advance new congressional boundaries in retaliation. Lawmakers had officers posted outside their Capitol offices, and suburban Dallas Rep. Mihaela Plesa said one tailed her on her Monday evening drive back to her apartment in Austin after spending much of the day on a couch in her office. She said he went with her for a staff lunch and even down the hallway with her for restroom breaks. 'We were kind of laughing about it, to be honest, but this is really serious stuff,' Plesa said in a telephone interview. 'This is a waste of taxpayer dollars and really performative theater.' Collier, who represents a minority-majority district, said she would not 'sign away my dignity' and allow Republicans to 'control my movements and monitor me.' 'I know these maps will harm my constituents,' she said in a statement. 'I won't just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination.' The tit-for-tat puts the nation's two most populous states at the center of an expanding fight over control of Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The battle has rallied Democrats nationally following infighting and frustrations among the party's voters since Republicans took total control of the federal government in January. Dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers left for Illinois and elsewhere on Aug. 3, denying their Republican colleagues the attendance necessary to vote on redrawn maps intended to send five more Texas Republicans to Washington. Republicans now hold 25 of Texas' 38 U.S. House seats. They declared victory Friday, pointing to California's proposal intended to increase Democrats' U.S. House advantage by five seats. Many absent Democrats left Chicago early Monday and landed hours later at a private airfield in Austin, where several boarded a charter bus to the Capitol. Cheering supporters greeted them inside. Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows did not mention redistricting on the floor but promised swift action on the Legislature's agenda. 'We aren't playing around,' Republican state Rep. Matt Shaheen, whose district includes part of the Dallas area, said in a post on the X social media platform. Even as they declared victory, Democrats acknowledged Republicans can now approve redrawn districts. Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu said Democrats would challenge the new designs in court. Lawmakers did not take up any bills Monday and were not scheduled to return until Wednesday. Trump has pressured other Republican-run states to consider redistricting, as well, while Democratic governors in multiple statehouses have indicated they would follow California's lead in response. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said his state will hold a Nov. 4 special referendum on the redrawn districts. The president wants to shore up Republicans' narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of the midterms during his first presidency. After gaining House control in 2018, Democrats used their majority to stymie his agenda and twice impeach him. Nationally, the partisan makeup of existing district lines puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. Of the 435 total House seats, only several dozen districts are competitive. So even slight changes in a few states could affect which party wins control. Redistricting typically occurs once at the beginning of each decade after the census. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among those that empower independent commissions, giving Newsom an additional hurdle. Democratic legislators introduced new California maps Monday. It was the first official move toward the fall referendum asking voters to override the independent commission's work after the 2020 census. The proposed boundaries would replace current ones through 2030. Democrats said they will return the mapmaking power to the commission after that. State Republicans promised lawsuits. Democrats hold 43 out of California's 52 U.S. House seats. The proposal would try to expand that advantage by targeting battleground districts in Northern California, San Diego and Orange counties, and the Central Valley. Some Democratic incumbents also get more left-leaning voters in their districts. 'We don't want this fight, but with our democracy on the line, we cannot run away from this fight,' said Democrat Marc Berman, a California Assembly member who previously chaired the elections committee. Republicans expressed opposition in terms that echoed Democrats in Austin, accusing the majority of abusing power. Sacramento Republicans said they will introduce legislation advocating independent redistricting commissions in all states. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott launched the expanding battle when he heeded Trump's wishes and added redistricting to an initial special session agenda that included multiple issues, including a package responding to devastating floods that killed more than 130 people last month. Abbott has blamed Democrats' absence for delaying action on those measures. Democrats have answered that Abbott is responsible because he effectively linked the hyper-partisan matter to nonpartisan flood relief. Abbott, Burrows and other Republicans tried various threats and legal maneuvers to pressure Democrats' return, including the governor arguing that Texas judges should remove absent lawmakers from office. As long as they were out of state, lawmakers were beyond the reach of the civil arrest warrants that Burrows issued. The Democrats who returned Monday did so without being detained by law enforcement. The lawmakers who left face fines of up to $500 for each legislative day they missed. Burrows has insisted Democratic lawmakers also will pay pick up the tab for law enforcement who attempted to corral them during the walkout. Barrow, Nguyen, Figueroa and Hanna write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Nguyen reported from Sacramento. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store