{"id":226621,"date":"2026-10-05T17:02:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pennsylvania-health-officials-brace-themselves-as-measles-outbreak-expected-to-spread-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T17:02:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:02:44","slug":"pennsylvania-health-officials-brace-themselves-as-measles-outbreak-expected-to-spread-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pennsylvania-health-officials-brace-themselves-as-measles-outbreak-expected-to-spread-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania health officials brace themselves as measles outbreak expected to spread – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most counties don\u2019t have their own health agencies, and some specific population groups have low vaccination rates
Pennsylvania<\/a> is bracing for a wave of measles cases, with some public health officials concerned that it\u2019s \u201conly a matter of time\u201d until the disease spreads beyond the outbreak\u2019s epicenter.
Last week the state reported its fifth measles-associated death amid 943 confirmed cases across 39 counties.<\/a> The outbreak comes amid concerns that public health in the US has been hit by increasing vaccine skepticism, especially due to the power and influence of controversial health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a>.
Contributing to the challenge is that Pennsylvania<\/a> is one of the few US states where its counties mostly lack their own health department, with only seven of its 67 counties having their own.
Lancaster county, which doesn\u2019t have its own health department, has seen the highest amount of cases, at 381, believed to be mostly among the Amish or similar religious groups who have historically low rates of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine uptake. Health<\/a> officials, doctors and other members of the community in the county are now attempting to establish its own health department to better tackle the outbreak.
Jeanne Franklin,<\/strong> the director of Chester county\u2019s health department, said that her county, which has the third highest number of cases, at 83, is preparing for an influx of cases from neighboring Lancaster.
\u201cWe have a very long border with Lancaster county, and these types of disease don\u2019t care about borders,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to keep going and find a person who isn\u2019t vaccinated. We\u2019re operating with the assumption that the disease may jump and spread to non-Plain [Amish] community members. Our goal is to prevent that, but we assume that it may happen.\u201d
She added that although many Amish people have not been vaccinated, it\u2019s not because they are anti-vaxxers, but rather because \u201cthey were either unaware of it or they don\u2019t seek out healthcare as frequently as other residents\u201d.
She added: \u201cBut they\u2019re willing to have the conversation and make a decision on what\u2019s happening today. They\u2019re not making decisions based on the myths out there, but because their neighbors are impacted.\u201d
Amid active surveillance of measles cases, contact tracing and setting up community vaccination centers, the county is also working to dispel misinformation some of its residents have regarding the safety of the vaccine.
\u201cWe have people in key positions saying it isn\u2019t an outbreak, it isn\u2019t a problem. We have people who approach our nurses and say that they were told the vaccine will make them sterile, or that there\u2019s a microchip within it,\u201d Franklin said.
But for Franklin, the fact that Chester county is one of the few counties to have its own health department is a clear advantage in the race to stop the spread of the disease.
\u201cBy having our own health department [it] means that we already have the infrastructure in place, and we prepare for these things all year round,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cWith the number of counties [the state has] to provide support to, they can\u2019t possibly know all the key partners in a geographical area.\u201d
She added: \u201cThe state has a finite set of employees, while I can pull my employees away from their normal jobs and say we need help with this. We live here, we know it, and we\u2019re working with the communities and the organizations who know us. I think every county needs a health department, but we\u2019re just not set up that way in Pennsylvania while other states are.\u201d
Dr Richard Lorraine, the medical director of Montgomery county\u2019s office of public health, said that it is a \u201cmatter of time\u201d before the third most populous county in Pennsylvania will begin to see measles cases.
\u201cWe recognize that essentially it\u2019s all around us, and so a big focus for the county is immunization,\u201d Lorraine said. \u201cIt\u2019s the best preventative measure and where the county is focusing its efforts on.\u201d
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Working closely with community organizers, Lorraine said the county was making sure that every resident was able to be vaccinated regardless of their insurance status.
\u201cBecause we are a public health agency, our mandate is to provide for members of our population for the most part who are underinsured, and there\u2019s a very high percentage who aren\u2019t insured,\u201d Lorraine said. \u201cAnd through our partnership with pharmacies we\u2019re able to open these clinics for everyone. So whether you have insurance or if you don\u2019t, we can work it out so that someone is able to administer a vaccine.\u201d
Lora Werner, the director of the Delaware county health department, said that her agency is facing several challenges in protecting residents from the virus.
Among them was the collapse of Crozer Health, Delaware county\u2019s largest healthcare system, due to bankruptcy last year.
\u201cThey were a huge provider of pediatric care,\u201d Werner said. \u201cAnd although we do have a high vaccination rate across Delaware county, there are pockets where they aren\u2019t as good.\u201d
For Werner, the newly established local health department has been a gamechanger for promoting public health initiatives in the county.
\u201cWe are the newest health department on the block, and we\u2019re so passionate about the fact that we\u2019re now here and can serve our residents,\u201d Werner said. \u201cWe\u2019re deeply integrated into the social networks.\u201d
She added: \u201cCreating a new department was very challenging, and we\u2019re a very odd state in this regard,\u201d Werner said. \u201cIf you want to have one you need to have a referendum to establish one. But it\u2019s not required, so we have a mishmash of the counties that have taken that step and those that have not.\u201d
The Guardian has approached the Pennsylvania health department for comment.<\/p>\n

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Most counties don\u2019t have their own health agencies, and some specific population groups have low vaccination ratesPennsylvania is bracing for a wave of measles cases, with some public health officials concerned that it\u2019s \u201conly a matter of time\u201d until the disease spreads beyond the outbreak\u2019s epicenter.Last week the state reported its fifth measles-associated death amid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}