A Florida public school district has confirmed its sixth case of measles as health officials warn of an outbreak.
Broward County Public Schools officials announced that its latest case came out of Manatee Bay Elementary on Tuesday, just days after the Florida Department of Health confirmed Friday that another student at the same school was the first to test positive, Fox News reported.
According to Broward County Schools Superintendent Dr. Peter Licata, it’s fine for children to come to school if they’re vaccinated.
“It’s safe. It’s safe if your child is vaccinated,” Licata told 7 News Miami.
He added that any major decision regarding school closures would be made by state health officials.
“We are not allowed to keep children from coming to school but if the state feel [sic] it’s the best interest, they’ll deem that as a state of emergency for the school,” the superintendent said.
“We expect to receive further guidance from the Florida Department of Health tomorrow and will continue to keep the school and its families updated with the latest information,” district communications chief John Sullivan said in a statement obtained by ABC News Tuesday.
“Over the weekend, the District took further preventive measures by conducting a deep cleaning of the school premises and replacing its air filters,” he added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that a total of 20 measles cases had been reported by 11 jurisdictions as of February 15: Arizona, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
This figure does not include the recent outbreak in Florida schools.
The health agency also listed the countries that were hit with the most measles cases from July 2023 to December 2023:
Yemen – 18,464
Azerbaijan – 13,721
Kazakhstan – 13,195
India – 12,301
Ethiopia – 10,060
While the worst statistics are from Western Asian and Middle Eastern regions, European health officials have been warning about outbreaks as well.
The U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) launched a new pro-vaccine publicity campaign in January after 216 confirmed measles cases and 103 probable cases in children throughout England since October, Breitbart London reported in January.
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