ROANOKE, Va. – A Covid-19 milestone, it has been five years since the WHO declared it a global pandemic, but now measles is a top concern for public health, especially with low vaccination rates.
Lisa Lee, an epidemiologist at Virginia Tech and former CDC official, discussed the ongoing challenges posed by Covid-19 and the current measles outbreak.
“Covid is going to be with us now,” Lee said. “We know that we didn’t wipe it out like we had hoped we could. And Covid will be with us. People will continue to have symptoms and complications from Covid for a long time.”
Lee emphasized that Covid-19 remains a concern amid new public health issues.
“Measles is actually one of the most contagious viruses we’ve ever seen on the planet,” Lee noted.
The current measles outbreak, which has been blamed for two deaths, has Americans on high alert. Virginians are also being warned of potential exposure after a confirmed case was detected in a traveler at Washington Dulles International Airport.
“The most important thing to remember is that measles is a deadly disease,” Lee stated. “We haven’t seen it in many, many decades in this country in the way that we saw it before the vaccine.”
Lee stressed the importance of vaccination and education.
“We have to tell people when we don’t know the answer,” Lee said. “And with COVID, because we never saw this virus before, we didn’t know a lot of the answers.”
She also discussed the critical issue of misinformation and its impact on public health.
“How we handle, as public health officials and healthcare providers, how we handle misinformation and disinformation is going to be really important for all of our future pandemics,” Lee said.
Those who have received a measles vaccine are 93% protected from the virus, a booster is available but not required.
