AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As federal grants are eliminated and pandemic-related public health efforts are deemphasized by the Trump administration, Austin Public Health (APH) says it's losing capacity and staff to address infectious disease spread, "specifically in the areas of vaccine education and promotion."
It comes at a time when the city is trying to fend off a significant measles outbreak like the one our neighbors in west Texas are seeing. While Austin has only confirmed three measles cases or exposures, Texas accounts for roughly 75% of the more than 900 measles cases reported nationwide, APH said earlier this week.
"We're at a point right now in the number of cases that we're seeing that we can rally other resources, but should we have a situation that we see in west Texas, we will be underprepared," APH Director Adrienne Sturrup said.
Specifically, APH's director said she's worried about staff capacity to trace infection, let you know if you've been exposed to measles and provide vaccinations.
"Our memories aren't that short. We don't want to go back to a pre-pandemic stage where it takes local public health departments a long time to ramp up. We want to preserve the knowledge base and the skills that we've built over that period so what when it's on, we're on," Sturrup said.
But that doesn't match President Donald Trump's priorities for his administration. The president's proposed budget, released last week, called for further cuts to public health while seeking to increase spending on priorities like border security and a bigger military.
Measles in Austin
In a Public Health Committee meeting Wednesday, public health leaders gave an update on the spread of measles in Austin.
According to Janet Pichette, the Chief Epidemiologist at APH, there were more than 900 measles cases reported in the US as of Friday. Of those people, most are younger than 20 and unvaccinated.
Texas represents roughly 75% of those nationwide cases, with 702 cases reported as of Tuesday, Pichette said. Two children have died in Texas.
There have been three confirmed cases of measles or measles exposure reported in Austin-Travis County.
APH said the first case reported was in February in an unvaccinated infant A second case was reported in April in a vaccinated adult who officials believe was exposed to the virus while traveling in the US And a person traveling from El Paso late last month may have exposed Austinites to the measles, APH recently saidPichette said the person traveling from El Paso may have been to additional locations in Central Texas and that they're still working to trace possible exposure.
Pichette also said APH is currently investigating a "large number" of possible cases. She described the effort required to get samples, investigate exposure and get results from the lab. Of those cases, many will not be measles, she said.
"As we found out with COVID, disease is just an airplane ride away. And people need to make sure...if you are unsure about your immunization status, or if you are unvaccinated, especially in summer travel months that they are making sure that they’re protected,” Pichette said.
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