Michigan’s 2nd measles outbreak of 2026 declared in Ottawa County
This article was posted by the Detroit Free Press. Read more here.
Two new cases of measles were confirmed in Ottawa County this week – both tied to a person whose infection with the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable virus was identified April 21.
“All three people live in the same household,” the Ottawa County Department of Public Health announced Wednesday, May 6. “The two newly confirmed cases were already being monitored … and they stayed home throughout the time they could have spread measles.”
That means there are no public exposure sites to report.
“Since the first case was identified, this has been a team effort,” said Dr. Gwendolyn Unzicker, medical director of the county health department, in a statement. County health leaders worked with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to contact those who might have been exposed in the home.
“We’re grateful to this family and to our community partners for the proactive collaboration that made this response possible. The family’s commitment to staying home during the monitoring period is one reason we have no public exposure sites to announce today.”
Because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more epidemiologically linked measles cases, it also means that Ottawa County is now the center of Michigan’s second outbreak of the year.
As of May 4, however, the Washtenaw County Health Department declared that outbreak over.
Statewide, as of May 6, there have been 12 confirmed measles cases in Michigan in Washtenaw, Ottawa, Monroe and Macomb counties.
The CDC reports that as of April 30, there have been 1,814 measles cases in 37 states and territories this year — with Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Utah among those hardest hit. Of them:
72% were among children and teens ages 19 and younger.
92% were unvaccinated for measles or their immunization status was unknown.
6% were hospitalized.
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