Schools and measles threat on the Central Coast

With the continuing measles outbreak in California, schools on the Central Coast are being extra vigilant.

Health officials said that in a confined area like a classroom, measles can spread quickly so they’re keeping a close eye on students.

Watsonville High School nurse Elizabeth Thorn has dealt with measles before and said she knows what to do.

“Isolate the case when it comes up putting masks on the kids and informing the students that are not completely vaccinated or have waivers as well as the staff,” said Thorn

Thorn works for Pajaro Valley — the largest school district in Santa Cruz County. She said they did have a couple of measles cases at school last year and she learned how contagious a single case can be.

Thorn said the illness can be in the air even 30 minutes after the infected person has left the room.

The school nurses office gets sanitized three times a day to prevent illnesses from spreading.

Under a law passed last year, students and families who don’t believe in vaccinations for diseases like measles can fill out a form to be exempt from getting them. Watsonville High has a list of those students in their records.

The Santa Cruz Health Department said Santa Cruz County has a high rate of students whose parents oppose vaccinations.

Health officer of Santa Cruz County, Dr. Lisa Hernandez said,
“When you look at kindergarteners our rate is higher than the state average. Where we’re at 9 percent of personal belief for kindergarten, the state averages about 2 percent.”

The problem with measles is that the symptoms gradually show over a couple weeks time and that means any child who’s exposed might have to stay home for weeks.

“I have had cases in other districts where students have had to stay out for three weeks, so it could be three weeks or more,” said Thorn.

But during this measles outbreak, she said they’ll do what they can to keep students safe.

Thorn said she reminds parents that if they choose not to get their child vaccinated–and then the child gets exposed to measles–they could miss out on school events, even graduation.

Pajaro Valley School District has eight nurses that go to different schools in the district, keeping tabs on health issues.