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There are seven new measles cases this week linked to the West Texas outbreak, most of them in West Texas counties. Reeves, Ector, and Gaines Counties all logged new confirmed measles infections. Lamar County, in North Texas, also added two, and another unvaccinated child has been added to the measles cluster in McLennan County.
The McLennan County cluster includes seven people who are all members of the same household. Six of them were unvaccinated children. This cluster, and two other cases in McLennan County, have been traced back to the outbreak.
While the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) confirmed seven new infections this week, the overall case count only increased by six. One case in Dawson County was removed from the list.
An additional measles hospitalization has been confirmed in this week's update, bringing the total to 97.
This week's seven new confirmed cases come after a week of no new cases and several weeks of sharply reduced spread. In early June, Commissioner of the Department of State Health Services Dr. Jennifer Shuford told Texas Standard, "We appear to be at the downward end of this curve."
DSHS has since reduced its biweekly measles updates to once a week, on Tuesdays.
