Union County confirms first measles case after child tests positive
Union County officials said in a Monday press release that a child tested positive for the area’s first case of measles.
The county’s Public Health department said people may have been exposed at an AFC Urgent Care in Indian Trail on Feb. 3 after the child got treatment there.
The county warned of possible exposure at the urgent care on East Independence Boulevard between 5:20 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.
The child is not a Union County public school student, the press release said. And there is no link between this case and the possible exposure at Shining Light Baptist Academy or the QuikTrip location in Indian Trail. Officials previously sent out more than 170 quarantine orders in late January after an infected child went to school.
Union County’s case marks the seventh in the Charlotte region. Lincoln County officials confirmed the area’s first measles case on Thursday. A tracker on the N.C. Division of Public Health website said that, since December, there have been three confirmed cases of measles in Mecklenburg County and two in Cabarrus County.
Vaccine hesitancy, driven by the anti-vaccination movement in the U.S., has made it difficult to achieve widespread protection from measles. Medical experts and public health leaders say overcoming hesitancy is key in preventing further spread in and around Charlotte, and preventing the rise of other infectious diseases.
The press release in Union County said officials are trying to contact people possibly exposed. Officials also encouraged people to get vaccinated at a clinic at the Union County Human Services office at 2330 Concord Avenue in Monroe.
