Infants Quarantined Because of Measles Outbreak at Santa Monica High Daycare

More than a dozen infants enrolled at a Santa Monica day care center were being quarantined today after a baby was confirmed to have contracted measles.

The baby, who is under 12 months old and too young to be vaccinated, is enrolled at the Santa Monica High School Infant Toddler Center, which serves school staff, community members and three teen parents who attend the high school, said Gail Pinsker, the community and public relations officer of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

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Pinsker said 14 infants exposed to the baby will be quarantined for 21 days. The day care’s infant room will be closed until further notice, and the toddler room will be closed through Thursday, she said. The high school remains open.

“The baby was contagious while in the child care center before a fever broke and a rash started and a parent was concerned,” Pinsker said.

A letter about the measles case was sent to parents of children enrolled in the day care this weekend, Pinsker said. The center serves 24 families with children from 6 weeks to 3 years old, she said.

A “contact investigation” to determine whether if there “are additional concern or exposure” at Santa Monica High School beyond the infant toddler center is being conducted under the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Pinsker said.

A baseball coach at Santa Monica High School came down with measles about a week and a half ago, health officials said.

Pinsker said she was not sure where the baby contacted the measles, but it was likely not connected with the baseball coach.

The Department of Public Health last week reported a total of 15 people had contracted measles in the county, with 14 of them linked to a December outbreak traced to Disneyland.

None of the 15 people confirmed with measles were vaccinated, county officials said.

Those figures do not include patients in Long Beach and Pasadena, which operate their own health departments. Those cities have both reported two confirmed measles cases.

State officials have said there have been more than 90 confirmed cases of measles, stretching across eight states and Mexico. The state Department of Public Health has confirmed 79 California cases, the majority of which can be traced to Disneyland.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS: Many around town and in the media are blaming the current outbreak on parents who choose not to vaccinate their children? Do you think it’s fair to assign blame? Do you think there should be policy changes as a result of the outbreak?

• City News Service