"South Carolina's measles outbreak continues to grow, with a total of 876 confirmed cases, which is the biggest outbreak the U.S. has seen in decades. But there are some positive signs in this current outbreak.
The outbreak started in October, and within 16 weeks it had surpassed the Texas outbreak of 2025. Now that rate of new confirmed cases has slowed. On Tuesday, public health officials in South Carolina reported just 29 new confirmed cases, which is a much smaller number than in recent weeks. State epidemiologist Linda Bell told reporters on Wednesday that it's too soon to say if that means the trajectory of this outbreak has finally slowed, but they are hopeful.
Bell said public health officials' outreach efforts on vaccination seem to be working. A few weeks ago, she told reporters that not very many people were getting vaccines at mobile clinics they were offering. But on Wednesday, she reported vaccinations were up by 162 percent in January compared to last year in Spartanburg County, which is the epicenter of the outbreak. And she says across the state, vaccinations were up 72 percent, which is going to be key to stopping the spread of this virus."
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