SPARTANBURG, SC – Health officials are sounding the alarm as South Carolina’s measles outbreak has ballooned into the largest in the country, with cases nearly doubling within a single week.
The state has now recorded 558 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in the fall, with 124 new infections identified in just three days. The disease has also spread beyond state lines, with six confirmed cases now reported in neighboring North Carolina.
The epicenter remains Spartanburg County in the northwestern part of the state, where exposures have been documented at churches, restaurants, businesses, and multiple healthcare facilities. Hundreds of children have been placed in quarantine since October.
Dr. Helmut Albrecht, a physician treating patients in the affected region, painted a grim picture of the situation. He said the outbreak represents the largest currently in the United States, and warned it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
The numbers tell a troubling story about vaccination rates in the area. While Spartanburg County’s overall student vaccination rate sits at 90 percent, that falls below the 95 percent threshold experts say is needed to prevent measles from spreading. At least one school in the area reported a vaccination rate as low as 20 percent.
State epidemiologist Linda Bell cautioned that unvaccinated individuals face potential exposure across numerous community settings as the virus continues to circulate.
Nonmedical exemptions have been climbing steadily. About 8 percent of students now have such exemptions in 2026, up from just 3 percent in 2020. Research published in JAMA indicates this trend is occurring across a majority of US counties, particularly since the pandemic.
Nearly all of the people who’ve fallen ill are children and teenagers, and almost every one of them was unvaccinated. Healthcare providers noted that vaccinated children who do contract the disease experience significantly milder symptoms compared to their unvaccinated peers.
More than 500 additional people remain in quarantine after being exposed to the highly contagious virus.
