DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — If you think you’ve contracted measles, stay home and contact your medical provider.
That’s the word from Health Department officials as the number of confirmed measles cases in Utah continues to climb.
This week, there are two new cases reported in Davis County. One of those infected individuals was out and about last week at several locations, including the Walmart in Layton and two other locations.
Both of those places cater to families and children: The Kid Zone in Clearfield and the Treehouse Children’s Museum in Ogden.
“We’re really vigilant," said Lynne Goodwin, the executive director of the museum.
Goodwin has been running the Ogden Treehouse Children’s Museum for more than two decades.
The good news: they remain very popular. Goodwin says she and her staff welcome more than 100,000 visitors each year — most of them children.
But that also means a lot of potential exposures to a whole host of things.
“The risk comes from people who visit you who might not know they’re ill or come not feeling their best, and that’s the risk for everybody, not just Treehouse," Goodwin said.
That happened last week when someone infected with measles paid the Treehouse a visit.
Goodwin found out a few days later, thanks to officials with the Weber-Morgan Health Department. She says they were grateful for the information, but not overly concerned. That’s because they have an extensive cleaning and sanitation system, which they list on their website.
On top of that, Goodwin says she and all 20 members of her staff are vaccinated.
“We know we work with children, and there are lots of things, not just measles, that are going around, like whooping cough, flu," she said. "I think having your staff be healthy is really important.”
The case started in Davis County. Sarah Willardson is an epidemiologist with the Davis County Health Department and says they are closely monitoring the situation.
“But with each case comes investigation, contact tracing, so we can potentially find others," Willardson said. "Hopefully, we catch them before they are out, exposing others.”
She says that’s what they’re doing right now.
“If anyone is out in the public and they’re concerned, if you’re vaccinated, you’re protected," she said. "That’s the message we really want folks to hear today is make sure you’re up-to-date on your vaccinations. That’s the best tool we have.”
In the meantime, Goodwin has a simple message for everyone.
“We encourage parents to only come when you’re feeling well and ready to enjoy the facility, but we know things happen and we try to be really vigilant.”
If you have questions or concerns, you can go to the Utah Department of Health website, where you can find out the number of cases and where the exposures occurred, as well as information about where to get vaccinated.
