Utah has reported over 720 measles cases since the current outbreak began last year.
Nine new cases have been confirmed since students went back to school at the end of August.
Summit County Health Department Director Phil Bondurant says none were in the Wasatch Back but he said that could change as the weather cools.
“When we look at the data that are presented from last school year, we did start to see an uptick around the November-December timeframe,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Oct. 12. “And if you think about the time of year that is, we're moving inside. It's colder outside.”
Utah’s outbreak began in 2025. The state detected its first case that June.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 4,000 confirmed measles cases this year, the highest annual total in decades.
Bondurant said the health department has a plan to limit spread and exposure this school year.
“In the event that a child is in one of the school settings and is found to be positive for measles, we instantly go to work with our school nurses and staff on contact tracing: who is exposed, who is inside of that space for the right amount of time that would cause them to be exposed," he said. "And then determine, of those children that were potentially impacted, which children and staff need to be removed from school and which ones are allowed to stay there.”
The CDC says the best protection against measles is the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Health officials say communities need vaccination rates above 95% to reach herd immunity.
But national MMR vaccination coverage among kindergarteners has fallen from over 95% in the 2019-2020 school year to about 92% in 2025-2026. Utah’s kindergarten vaccination rate is even lower, at under 90%.
State data shows local MMR vaccination rates are generally higher in Summit County than in Wasatch County. Park City is at nearly 95%, while the Snyderville Basin, Coalville and Kamas areas are around 93%. In Wasatch County, Heber is at about 90% and Midway is over 88%.
