South Carolina

The South Carolina Department of Public Health reports that a measles outbreak first identified Oct. 2 in the state’s Upstate region has grown to 211 cases, after 26 new infections were logged since Friday, with at least four people hospitalized and 144 individuals in quarantine. Officials say 196 of the 211 cases are in unvaccinated people, most of them school‑age children, and have identified exposures at multiple elementary schools and churches in the Spartanburg area, urging employers and families to follow isolation and quarantine guidance and emphasizing that vaccination remains the best protection. The update comes as CDC guidance under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still calls for measles vaccination of all children despite broader federal changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.