Every Friday our Personal Finance team will round up consumer news you need to know ahead of the weekend, on a segment we call “Family First” for YFi PM. Read below for this week’s round-up.
The US measles outbreak is disrupting families and travel. With the largest number of cases reported in a single year since 1994, and 13 individual outbreaks in 22 states so far this year, families who have children under 1 year old (the minimum age most doctors require for administering the measles vaccination) are left second-guessing travel plans and experiencing turmoil about leaving their homes.
Some pediatricians will make an exception for the one-year rule during outbreaks such as this, or for babies who will be traveling abroad. The C.D.C. advises that babies parents consider vaccinating their babies early in these situations.
A church of scientology-owned cruise ship was quarantined in the port of St Lucia when a crew member contracted the disease. After receiving 100 vaccines from the St. Lucia Department of Health and Wellness, the ship has reportedly left St. Lucia for its home port of Curacao.
The measles virus is one of the most infectious diseases known to humans. A person with measles can cough in a room and leave, and hours later, if you’re unvaccinated, you could catch the virus from the droplets in the air the infected person left behind.
Measles had been declared entirely removed in the US since 2000, until the current outbreak spread.
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