The nation’s second-largest measles outbreak has been spreading in an isolated area of northern Arizona for five months. But now, the extremely infectious disease is hitting Maricopa County, where it may have much more room to spread freely.
Last Friday, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health announced a positive measles case had been identified in Gilbert. It wasn’t connected to the ongoing outbreak in Colorado City in Mohave County, but was instead linked to international travel.
In November, a positive case was identified in the county after an infected person attended a Tate McCrae concert in Phoenix, but the disease did not spread in the Valley at the time. This time around, that’s not the case. On Friday, the county health department confirmed that two more Maricopa County residents had tested positive for the incredibly contagious disease…