South Carolina Measles Outbreak Hits 558 Cases as Vaccine Exemptions Rise

South Carolina health officials report 558 measles cases in a rapidly expanding outbreak centered in Spartanburg County, with 124 new infections in the past three days and 248 this week alone, making it the largest current measles outbreak in the U.S. At a Friday briefing, infectious‑disease specialist Dr. Helmut Albrecht warned the situation "is going to get worse before it gets better," noting hundreds of people statewide are already in quarantine or isolation and that at least six linked cases have appeared in neighboring North Carolina. State epidemiologist Linda Bell said most cases are in unvaccinated children and teens and that exposures have occurred in churches, restaurants, businesses and health‑care settings, while one local school’s vaccination rate is as low as 20%. Spartanburg County’s overall school vaccination rate is about 90%—below the 95% threshold needed for measles herd immunity—and nonmedical exemptions have jumped from roughly 3% of students in 2020 to about 8%, trends mirrored nationally in new JAMA research showing growing exemption clusters that leave counties vulnerable to outbreaks. The outbreak underscores how loosened or broadly granted nonmedical vaccine waivers are eroding protection against one of the most contagious human viruses, with local parents and teachers now publicly confronting school boards over what they call "absolute insanity" in exemption practices.