The quarantine period for measles is 21 days from exposure, which is the maximum incubation period before the telltale rash appears. Measles is highly contagious, with up to 90 percent of unvaccinated or otherwise vulnerable people contracting the virus through contact. People infected with measles remain contagious from four days before the rash appears to four days after it begins.
The outbreak is occurring in the northern region of South Carolina, with several cases identified in Spartanburg County, which includes Inman, as well as Greenville County. Vaccination rates are low in both counties. For the 2024-2025 school year, only 90 percent of Spartanburg students were vaccinated, while Greenville’s vaccination rate was 92.4 percent. These numbers are well below the 95 percent target needed to prevent community transmission.
Both counties’ low vaccination rates are associated with high rates of religious exemptions. Spartanburg has the state’s highest rate, with 8.2 percent of students exempted from school vaccination requirements based on religious beliefs. In neighboring Greenville the religious vaccination exemption rate is 5.3 percent.
Of the 111 outbreak cases, 105 were not vaccinated, three were partially vaccinated, the status of two was unknown, and one case was fully vaccinated.
Nationally, vaccination rates have declined overall amid misinformation spread by anti-vaccine activists, including current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thus, measles cases are at a 33-year high, with nearly 2,000 cases and 46 outbreaks this year.
This post was updated to correct the year the US eliminated measles.
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