Southwestern Public Health ends weekly measles reports amid falloff in local cases

Southwestern Public Health is winding down its weekly measles reports amid a drop in the number of local cases being reported.

But health officials stressed on Tuesday that the move doesn't mean the months-long outbreak that prompted them is over.

The health unit is instead directing Elgin and Oxford County residents to refer to the measles case reports issued each week by Public Health Ontario, which consists of data from Ontario health units.

While SWPH is still conducting its own internal surveillance, not having to prepare and publish local weekly reports will help free up some resources, said Carolyn Richards, the program manager for SWPH's foundational standards team.

"Cases are much lower now than they were in the spring. It could be because children are out of school for the summer, like it could be something that's temporary," Richards told CBC News.

Richards added that the health unit would consider bringing back the local reports if measles cases began to rise again.

In a statement, the region's medical officer of health, Dr. Ninh Tran, said the risk of measles continues for those who are susceptible.

"Please continue to be vigilant in preventing measles and protecting yourselves and loved ones through vaccination," he said.

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While B.C. has recorded a little over 100 cases of measles as of July 5, neighbouring Alberta has recorded more cases than the entirety of the U.S. despite having a fraction of the population. Dr. Susan Kuo, a Richmond family physician, said the current outbreak could be prevented with up-to-date vaccinations, and the COVID-19 pandemic had led to an increase in vaccine skepticism and poor disease mitigation.

The health unit began issuing its own weekly reports in April, when the region was Canada's measles hot spot, accounting at one point for nearly half of all measles cases in Ontario.

Those numbers have fallen significantly in recent weeks. Last week, the health unit reported only one confirmed case, the same as the previous two weeks.

Richards said they were meant to provide the public a more precise, detailed look at the local data in comparison to Public Health Ontario's reports, which provide a broader provincial overview.

While the provincial reports used data provided by SWPH, figures could sometimes differ slightly from what local health officials were telling residents due to routine data cleansing.

"Now that the numbers are much lower, that risk of a difference between us and the provincial report is so much lower that we can switch to using them as the source," Richards said.

Most of the recent cases reported by Public Health Ontario have come from nearby Huron and Perth counties.

Of the 32 new cases reported last week, 19 were within the jurisdiction of Huron-Perth Public Health, which covers Clinton, Goderich, Stratford and St. Marys, among other communities.

Dr. Miriam Klassen, the region's medical officer of health, told CBC News last week that the cluster of cases was linked to an exposure at a private function, and large households in the community with multiple cases.

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Ontario had recorded a total of 2,276 measles cases as of last week, linked to a travel-related case in New Brunswick in October.

The majority, nearly 74 per cent, involved infants, children, and adolescents 19 and younger, according to Public Health Ontario. Of those, 96 per cent were unvaccinated.

At least 68 per cent of adult cases involved unvaccinated individuals. 

While Ontario's case count is still the country's highest, attention has lately turned to Alberta. The province reported 47 cases over the weekend, bringing its total tally to 1,454 as of Monday.