PORT TOWNSEND — Infectious disease numbers continue to be low, but measles cases in Texas are increasing and federal funding cuts are affecting Jefferson County programs, Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry told county commissioners on Monday.
“Some good news up front, influenza numbers are continuing to down trend,” Berry said. “We expect to be all the way out of flu season by the end of April.”
Some RSV is being seen in the community, but the activity is relatively low, Berry said. COVID-19 activity has remained low, she added.
“We continue to see sporadic wild bird cases of avian flu,” Berry said, “but we have no current poultry outbreaks or dairy outbreaks in our community and no current dairy outbreaks anywhere in Washington state.”
Pertussis activity has persisted in the county, with eight cases in Jefferson County in the past month, Berry said.
While no cases of measles have been reported in Clallam or Jefferson counties, Berry said measles news in Texas is concerning.
Berry notified the board of a third measles case in Washington state, in Snohomish County. The case is an infant who traveled by air, she said.
“Unfortunately, the situation in Texas continues to get worse,” Berry said. “We’re seeing, at this point, 607 cases of measles diagnosed in the United States so far this year. The vast majority of those are related to the Texas outbreak.”
Seventy-four, or 12 percent of cases, have led to hospitalization, Berry said.
“Unfortunately, one more child has died,” she said.
The current death toll of the outbreak is at three, she added.
Berry said the child’s death was preventable.
“This was an unvaccinated, otherwise healthy child,” she said.
Jefferson County has the lowest measles vaccination rate among children in Washington state counties, Berry said.
“If measles does come to Jefferson County, it can become a very big issue very quickly,” she said.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been shrouded in misinformation for years, Berry said.
“It’s important to know that it’s safe, it’s incredibly effective, it gives you lifelong immunity against measles, as well as mumps and rubella,” she said. “If you have any questions about it, we encourage you to contact the department of public health. Or contact whichever health care provider you trust the most. We are very happy to talk through decision making around vaccination.”
The department has seen increased vaccination rates in kids and adults since the measles outbreak began, Berry said.
The situation in Texas is expected to get worse due to federal funding cuts, Berry said.
“The federal government decided to cut the vaccine program that was paying for outreach vaccinations in Texas,” Berry said. “Measles clinics were shut immediately.”
The Division of Global Migration also has seen massive cuts, Berry said.
“The people who track air travel for infectious diseases,” Berry said. “When someone, say a kid with measles, travels on a plane, every person on that plane was exposed to measles.”
Historically, the county public health department with the confirmed measles case would have received a list of people on the flight, along with the county they live in, Berry said. The department would then send messages to the individuals exposed on the flight.
“That’s not happening now,” she said. “Normally, we get that list within two to three days, then we can contact everyone who was exposed so they don’t expose others.”
In the case of the Snohomish child, the list still hasn’t been received. The likelihood that there are other people in Washington state who were on that plane who don’t know they were exposed is high, Berry said.
Berry said the best thing people can do is stay up to date on vaccinations and stay home when sick. While most rashes are not measles, Berry advised reaching out to a healthcare provider for individuals or caregivers of children with strange rashes.
“Federal cuts do trickle down,” she said. “We need to be able to do good contact tracing. We can’t do that without access to our partners at the federal government.”
The state public health lab also saw sudden and major cuts, Berry said.
“That is where we send our measles specimens,” she said.
The county department sends tests via rapid courier to the Shoreline lab, Berry said. Generally, the county department would receive test results within 24 hours.
“That courier system was suddenly cut off around the state,” she said. “The ability to get labs to the state public health lab went away. Staffing and time for the lab also went away.”
Longer wait times are expected, Berry said.
The county also saw a cut immediately ending the health department’s ability to provide COVID-19 tests, Berry said.
Berry said public health has long been underfunded. When funding for a program like the one providing for free COVID-19 tests goes away, the services go away and there aren’t other funding sources to pull from, she said.
“The other big cut we saw was the loss of the Care-A-Van,” Berry said.
The state Department of Health (DOH) program provided mobile health services, primarily vaccines, particularly to rural areas, Berry said.
“We’ve used it very heavily in Jefferson County, as well as in Clallam County,” Berry said.
Berry said the van showed that often the issue of opting to take a vaccine was a matter of access, which has now been diminished.
The program was shuttered on March 24, according to the Care-A-Van’s webpage on the DOH’s website.
“We are at risk of losing massive amounts of funding from the state as well,” Berry said. “Currently our governor (Bob Ferguson) is recommending $49 million in cuts to public health across the state.”
Those cuts will hit the department hard if they’re pushed through, Berry said, affecting foundational programs, infectious disease investigations, opiate work, water quality work, among other areas.
The health department will still be there, but cuts at the state level will affect the department’s ability to fill gaps left by federal cuts, Berry said.
“We’ll do what we can,” Berry said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
