{"id":63790,"date":"2026-03-16T16:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63790"},"modified":"2026-03-16T16:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:09:28","slug":"the-florida-department-of-health-has-confirmed-that-measles-cases-have-reached-132-statewide-as-of-march-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/16\/the-florida-department-of-health-has-confirmed-that-measles-cases-have-reached-132-statewide-as-of-march-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Florida Department of Health has confirmed that measles cases have reached 132 statewide as of March 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This marks a significant increase from previous years and currently places Florida with the third-highest case count in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"8a7c7a\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #8a7c7a;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/images-1-7.webp?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-63791 not-transparent\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Current Outbreak Statistics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The majority of the cases are concentrated in Southwest Florida, though the virus has now been reported in 13 other counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Statewide Total:<\/strong> 132 cases (as of March 7, 2026).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Primary Hotspot:<\/strong> Collier County, with <strong>98 reported cases<\/strong>, many of which were linked to an earlier outbreak at Ave Maria University.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Central Florida Update:<\/strong> Osceola County recently recorded its first case of the year\u2014a resident aged 25\u201329. This is only the second measles case ever recorded in that county.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Demographics:<\/strong> A high percentage of cases (roughly 56%) involve children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 24.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Affected Counties<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond Collier, cases have been confirmed in the following areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>North Florida:<\/strong> Alachua, Duval, Escambia, St. Johns.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tampa Bay\/West Coast:<\/strong> Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>South Florida:<\/strong> Broward, Miami-Dade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Central Florida:<\/strong> Osceola.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Guidance for Residents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Health officials emphasize that measles is highly contagious, particularly for those who are unvaccinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Symptoms to Watch For:<\/strong> High fever, cough, runny nose, red\/watery eyes, and a characteristic rash.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Medical Protocol:<\/strong> If you suspect exposure or develop symptoms, <strong>call your healthcare provider or the local health department first<\/strong> before visiting a clinic or emergency room. This allows facilities to take precautions to prevent further spread.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Prevention:<\/strong> The MMR vaccine remains the primary defense. While most residents are vaccinated in childhood, adults can verify their status or receive the vaccine at most commercial pharmacies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This marks a significant increase from previous years and currently places Florida with the third-highest case count in the country. Current Outbreak Statistics The majority of the cases are concentrated&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2ltYWdlcy0xLTcud2VicD9maXQ9MzAwJTJDMTY4JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiVGhlIEZsb3JpZGEgRGVwYXJ0bWVudCBvZiBIZWFsdGggaGFzIGNvbmZpcm1lZCB0aGF0IG1lYXNsZXMgY2FzZXMgaGF2ZSByZWFjaGVkIDEzMiBzdGF0ZXdpZGUgYXMgb2YgTWFyY2ggMjAyNiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.xC-dbiAbHweZdXg5drVuLuXuWs91nZx8GsxeLDDVE9kMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14086],"class_list":["post-63790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-the-florida-department-of-health-has-confirmed-that-measles-cases-have-reached-132-statewide-as-of-march-2026"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63792,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63790\/revisions\/63792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}