Placer County Warns Unvaccinated Students May Be Forced To Stay Home During Measles Outbreak
PLACER COUNTY (CBS13) — The nationwide measles outbreak has Placer County on edge, with parents being told they may need to keep their unvaccinated kids home from school.
A dozen possible measles cases were being investigated in Placer COunty.
"We know it's very contagious and it can spread very quickly," said Placer County Health Officer Dr. Robert Oldham. "There's a number of suspect cases we've investigated just in the last week or so."
Nine of the tests came back negative, but the results of the last three are still pending.
"We're trying to be proactive and getting information out to parents," he said.
Health officials sent out a letter to the parents of students asking them to get their children vaccinated and warned that unvaccinated children could be "excluded from attending school or child care to prevent further spread of disease."
As far as how that would happen, Oldham says it's too soon to say.
"Certainly the public health officer for each county has the authority to exclude children from school in the event of an outbreak in a school, but we don't have any confirmed cases in Placer County so that would be premature," he said.
