According to the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Rule §97.7, schools and childcare settings shall exclude unimmunized children for at least 21 days after the last date the unimmunized child was exposed to a measles case.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued guidance to schools as the measles outbreak in Gaines County rises to 15 cases, mostly in children.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said on Friday there have been ten confirmed cases of measles in Gaines County. DSHS reported it as an outbreak of measles in the county.

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is reporting an outbreak of measles in Gaines County. All cases have been identified among unvaccinated school-aged children who are residents of Gaines County. Symptom onset began within the last two weeks.

A measles outbreak is growing in a rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level.

Public health practitioners warn such outbreaks will become more common because of scores of laws around the U.S. that ultimately lower vaccine rates.

On January 30, officials reported two measles cases in unvaccinated, school-age children in Gaines County, which sits at the border of New Mexico and is around 90 miles southwest of Lubbock, Texas. Both children were hospitalized in Lubbock and had been discharged.

Texas Health and Human Services reports that seven children have been hospitalized with the disease. All were unvaccinated.