Minnesota measles count soars, with 80% of cases reported in Todd County

Cases of measles have skyrocketed in Minnesota this past week. The Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday reported 59 new measles cases, bringing the total case count to 139 so far this year. It's the highest number the state has seen in decades. Nearly all of the cases have been reported since mid-September. Most of the cases are in Todd County. The area in central Minnesota, which has a population of about 25,000 people, has reported 115 measles cases this year. The department of health says only 60% of Todd County babies born in 2023 were vaccinated, compared to a roughly 80% statewide average. The figure represents one of the lowest rates in the state. For Dr. Kim Tjaden, a family physician with CentraCare in St. Cloud, measles cases in Stearns County feel more like a "when" than an "if." She and her team are preparing. "We have a number of folks who choose not to vaccinate in our clinics and it's heartbreaking to me. I feel like they don't have the knowledge of what an outbreak can look like and how devastating it can be to a family, particularly to a child," Tjaden said. The World Health Organization deemed the disease eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, but experts say it's made a comeback with the decline of vaccination rates. Tjaden has been in medicine for more than 30 years, but she's never seen a case thanks to the prevalence of vaccines earlier in her career. Health officials in Wisconsin in a call with reporters Thursday noted that a number of physicians are just now seeing the disease in-person as it spreads. Data shows that MMR vaccination rates declined very slowly in the early 2000's followed by steep drop-offs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In both Minnesota and Wisconsin, the vaccination rate in kindergarteners was around 93% during the 2019-20 school year. For the 2025-26 school year, that rate had dropped in both states to about 85%, which is well below the level considered safe for herd immunity. On Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Health announced that an infant died of measles after an outbreak in southwestern Wisconsin. It was the first measles death reported in Wisconsin since 1990 and the third nationally in just the past week. "To see somebody die from something that doesn't need to be happening, it's frustrating and hard and sad," Beth Parilla said. Parilla manages the Vaccine Preventable Diseases Section with the Minnesota Department of Health. She said that the pandemic lead to fewer people visiting the doctor's office and gave rise to misinformation and confusion about vaccinations, making the country more susceptible to domestic spikes. Where the disease is spreading from has changed, Parilla explained. She said that in recent years, international travel would lead to a handful of cases in the Twin Cities metro that were easier to contain; now, people are picking up the disease and bringing it back to Minnesota from elsewhere in the continential United States. "This is such a well tested vaccine, we've been using it for decades," Parilla said, "I really think anyone who can be vaccinated should strongly consider doing it at this point in time." She believes that measles will continue to spread unless the trend in vaccination rates changes. The more spread, the more risk for severe infection. In Wisconsin, the state health departed as reported 431 measles cases. Nine have been hospitalized in addition to Thursday's tragic death. In: Minnesota Measles Featured Local Savings