Seattle Times Getting word that out-of-state travelers may have brought in an extremely contagious virus. Scrambling to notify the public. Tracking exposures. Testing residents. Watching three cases become six, then 10, then 12.
The Snohomish County Health Department had again found itself hustling to save lives and prevent hospitalizations, this time in a race against the spread of measles.
Jae Williams started as a communications coordinator at the health department on Jan. 8, the same day the department learned of measles exposures in the county. So instead of spending the week familiarizing herself with the job and getting to know her team, Williams was calling residents to tell them they might have been exposed to a deadly virus.
She’d made these types of calls before, during the COVID-19 pandemic while living in California.
“Give me a script, and I’m ready to go,” Williams said.
In many ways, the push to curb the spread of measles is reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic that engulfed the country six years ago. The nationwide measles outbreak, now centered in South Carolina, has resulted in thousands of infections over the past year and has put the U.S. on track to lose elimination status after more than two decades. In 2025, three people died from the disease.