A week has passed since the measles outbreak started at Ave Maria University in Collier County, and the state still hasn’t officially confirmed cases in Southwest Florida. The outbreak has already reached 20 confirmed cases, all traced back to the university community.
Measles spread fast. The virus hangs in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves, so it doesn’t take much for an outbreak to get out of hand. Instead of confirming cases publicly, the state Department of Health in Collier County (DOH-Collier) posted a notice online, promising more resources to monitor suspected measles and stop it from spreading further.
If you check the state’s infectious disease website, you won’t find any mention of the 20 confirmed cases at Ave Maria. The official data only goes up to January 24th, showing zero Collier cases at that point. When the site finally updated on February 5th, it listed just four cases in Collier and one in Lee County. The real numbers? They come from Mater Dei Clinic, a small clinic in Ave Maria, which has been the main testing site since the outbreak began on January 29th. The DOH and the university have been unresponsive despite repeated questions from the press. Lee County’s lone case remains a mystery, with no details available.
Ave Maria is a growing town of about 7,400 people. The university itself has about 1,500 students. After they confirmed the first two cases, Mater Dei Clinic quickly became the go-to place for testing. Since then, the DOH and the university have set up their own testing sites and started contact tracing…