The measles has been steadily making its way toward Santa Barbara and arrived this week. County Public Health confirmed Monday that a person who’d recently returned from international travel came down with the virus. The department is in infection control mode and coordinating with healthcare providers over potential exposure. They could not state where in the county the patient resided for privacy reasons, said spokesperson Jessica Martinez.
In the recent nationwide outbreak, Ventura County confirmed one case of measles earlier this month and another was reported in San Luis Obispo in December 2025. Santa Barbara had a transient finding of measles virus in its wastewater in September 2025, but it was just once. Public Health’s Martinez said the department believed it was passed by a visitor. “If it was a local case, you would anticipate multiple in a row,” she said…