BELLEVILLE, Pa. — In the parking lot of the Central Pennsylvania Clinic, horse-drawn buggies are hitched to posts. On the front door, a taped-up sign tells anyone with measles symptoms to return to their car and call the office. Many people here don’t have a car or a cellphone. For them, the sign has a different request: put on a mask, ring the bell and step back from the door.
The clinic serves many Amish families in and around Belleville. The area, along with Lancaster County, is at the heart of a measles outbreak spreading through largely unvaccinated Amish communities that are especially vulnerable to one of the most contagious viruses.
Doctors here are scrambling to stop the spread, and they are worried the outbreak will strain hospitals as flu season approaches. All of it is playing out against a political fight in Washington, where the Trump administration has cast doubt on the measles vaccine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to fully recognize the deaths Pennsylvania has linked to the virus…