A growing outbreak of measles in Utah has made that state the current center of measles in the U.S.
About 600 people in Utah have now been diagnosed with measles, most of them children. Measles cases are now present in 22 of Utah’s 29 counties.
The tri-county health department area of eastern Utah that lies just northwest of Grand Junction that consists of Uintah, Daggett and Duchesne counties, has 69 cases and an infection rate of 119.7 cases per 100,000 people, one of the highest infection rates in the state. The rate for Utah as a whole is currently 17.4 cases per 100,000 people.
The state has seen 75 new cases in just the last three weeks, according to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services Measles Dashboard. While other measles outbreaks over the last two decades have been traced to insular religious communities like Mennonites, Amish and ultra-orthodox Jews, the current outbreak in Utah has been spreading throughout the general population.
About a third of the people in Utah who came down with measles got so sick that they had to go to emergency rooms, mostly because of severe dehydration resulting from vomiting and diarrhea. Some people are reportedly showing up at ERs gasping for breath. Measles can cause respiratory complications, including pneumonia.
Early symptoms of measles include high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Small white spots may appear inside the mouth 2–3 days later, and then after about 4 days, a characteristic red, blotchy rash breaks out, usually starting on the face, spreading downward and engulfing the entire body.
Measles is on of the most contagious viral diseases known to man.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “a single infected person can pass it to 12–18 others in unvaccinated populations, and it can remain active in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours. Nine out of 10 unvaccinated individuals exposed to it will contract it.” Johns Hopkins also says, “The virus can linger in the air for about two hours after a person with measles has left the room, and can
then infect those who enter the room if they are not immunized against measles. An infected person can spread the virus four days before they show any symptoms, even though they look and feel fine.
The number of measles cases in the U.S. as a whole hit a 34-year high in 2025, after 26 years in which the disease had been considered eradicated in the U.S. The country is on track to surpass that record this year. Doctors owe the sharp increase in measles cases in the U.S. to misinformation about vaccines being spread by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., (RFK Jr.) the Secretary of Health and Human Services appointed by convicted felon/sexual abuser/President Trump.
RKF, Jr., who has no medical degree or background in public health, has long opposed vaccinations and made millions of dollars promoting misinformation about vaccines and vaccine skepticism, through book deals about vaccine skepticism, the salary he received through a nonprofit group he started called Children’s Health Defense, referral fees for litigation against vaccine manufacturers, and a law firm in which he was a partner.
There is no cure for measles, but it is highly preventable through vaccines, which have proven highly effective at preventing the disease.