The Cooper Independent School District has told parents of children at its elementary school to be on the lookout for symptoms of measles. The district says two unconfirmed cases of measles among students is currently under investigation. Both children are from the same household.
The district says the children have been tested and results are expected Monday. The district says if the tests return positive, unvaccinated elementary students will be required to quarantine for 21 days.
In neighboring Lamar County, there are currently 18 confirmed cases of measles. That’s up from 17 last week. Statewide, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services says there are 702 cases of measles. Most of those are in Gaines County, southwest of Lubbock, where the outbreak seems to have originated. The 18 cases of measles in Lamar County have been linked to a family that traveled to West Texas.
In Rockwall County, two cases of measles confirmed earlier this year were found to be unrelated to the West Texas outbreak. Rockwall County does not have any active cases of measles at the moment, according to state data. Similarly, Collin County and Denton County health officials reported one case in their counties earlier this year. Neither of those two cases were linked to the West Texas outbreak. State data show no active cases currently in Collin or Denton counties.
Nationwide, there are 935 confirmed cases of the disease, according to federal data. There have been two deaths associated with the Texas outbreak, both of those unvaccinated school-age children.
