…currently, no cases of measles acquired in Hawai‘i have been reported.
Vaccination rates in Hawaiʻi are even lower in some pockets. Notably, multiple schools on Maui, Kauaʻi, and Hawaiʻi Island report vaccination rates below 75%, which could lead to greater vulnerability. This is below the 82% vaccination rate in Gaines County, which is the epicenter for the Texas-New Mexico outbreak. An outbreak on a neighbor island would heavily strain its healthcare system, and no neighbor island hospital has a pediatric intensive care unit.
All it takes is one plague bearer on one plane.
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses currently known. If a person is infected with measles, an expected nine out of 10 people nearby who do not have immunity also will become infected.
For measles, a population vaccination rate of at least 95% is needed to protect the community from an outbreak.
The fall of empire continues. Stay masked, everyone. Cloth masks are better than nothing but often have poor seals and present sanitary concerns. I use KF94s that have been independently tested to provide identical as-worn filtration levels to N95s. Anyone tried those fancy elastomeric respirators?