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This year and last year, a virus that had been eliminated in the U.S.

for decades developed into a nationwide outbreak, eventually finding its way here in Snohomish County.

On January 7th, measles cases reached Everett.

And in the months since, the Snohomish County Health Department has been working diligently to alert the public and stop the spread.

You'll learn the best way county health officials say you can protect yourself and others.

About 25 years ago, measles was eliminated in the U.S., but now the highly contagious virus has seen a resurgence.

Health experts say measles spreads through coughing and sneezing and can survive for up to two hours in a room.

If someone is not immune and is exposed to the virus, their chances of being infected are about 90%.

The cases in Snohomish County appeared in the early part of January, and the Health Department says they believe a group from South Carolina brought the virus while visiting family and friends in the county.

-So the majority of our 14 cases were in two households, it had... which had multiple people who were not immunized in those households.

So it took a while for everybody to get sick.

But now that has happened.

So at this point, we're beyond one fall incubation period.

So the incubation period is when you get exposed to measles.

The time it takes you to get sick.

So for measles, that's 7 to 21 days.

-Snohomish County Health Department Health Officer Doctor James Lewis says the agency isn't expecting any more cases.

Doctor Lewis says most people in Snohomish County, an estimated 90% or more are immunized.

He also says there are small pockets in the area with low immunization rates.

The Health Department says there are two groups with the biggest concerns: one, children under 12 months because babies are not eligible for measles vaccinations until they are one year old, and two, those who are unvaccinated for religious or philosophical reasons.

That was the case with many in the group that were infected in Snohomish County.

Doctor Lewis says the Health Department tailored their approach given the group's religious beliefs.

-We responded aggressively because we knew we had a really large number of people exposed, and we knew there was a large number of susceptible people exposed.

We knew there was a particular community group that was high risk, and so we focused a lot of our outreach to them.

-Lewis says they focused their messaging on quarantining and other methods to stop the spread.

-Avoiding discussion at that, you know, critical moment of immunizations, because we knew that was not something that they were open to from a, you know, religious or social perspective.

And so now's not the time during a crisis to try and convince people to change their mind on that topic.

-Katie Curtis of the Snohomish County Health Department says the lessons from the pandemic prepared them for the most recent measles outbreak.

-Really working more with our community rather than coming out as public health knows what's best for you, and we're going to tell you.

It's really, how can we help co-create messages?

What are the questions that your community has that we can help answer or get you the information in a way that's understandable to to the people you're trying to serve.

Because really, us pushing out messages only in English, only on our website really does not reach our full community.

-Doctor Lewis and Curtis say the best way you can protect yourself and others is getting vaccinated and listening to your health care provider.

-Knowing how to isolate.

Knowing how to keep your other family members safe.

Knowing how to keep the rest of your community safe.

By maybe just staying home and waiting until your illness subsides before you're back out.

And really making sure that the message of vaccines are the best way to prevent.

-Right now, there's a lot of rumors going around about vaccines even coming from pretty high up in our in our government.

So I think, really paying attention to science based recommendations, really pay attention to where these recommendations are coming from.

-I'm Paris Jackson.

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