Elkhart County Health Department has distributed flyers to teachers of Amish schools, allowing them to stay informed and send flyers home with students, if desired. Photo from Elkhart County Health Department.

News Release

GOSHEN — Elkhart County authorities are trying to prepare the county’s entire population for the possibility of a measles outbreak.

As of Friday, April 18, no cases have been reported in Elkhart County, but six have been reported in Allen County and 10 cases in southern Michigan.

Nationally, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington have together reported 800 cases.

Melanie Sizemore, a health official at the Elkhart County Department of Health, said that to ensure that the entire community is informed, the department’s emergency preparedness coordinator also went to Amish schools to provide measles information for teachers.

Sizemore said the coordinator will give flyers to teachers, not students, and if teachers and leadership choose to do so, the information can be distributed for students to take home to their families.

At the Elkhart County Council meeting on Thursday, April 17, Prime Minister Tom Stamp also read a congressional statement regarding the disbursement of flyers, citing concerns about the public’s social media reactions to the visit.

Stamp said there are already cases in Fort Wayne and Michigan, and it is expected to reach Elkhart County as well.

Acknowledging that the liaison officer visited the school to deliver the flyer, Stamp said the flyer led to several requests for more information from Amish parents, many who were unaware of the potential outbreak.

Sizemore also said that Amish families sometimes goes to outgoing clinics for vaccinations, though less frequently than non-Amish families. Sizemore said that because the Amish population has less access to information than the non-Amish population, the health department shared information — without urging them to get vaccinated.

For non-Amish populations, information is more readily available through social media and news the Health Department shares. Therefore, paper flyers are instead printed so if a teacher chooses, they can be shared. Sizemore said this is a typical departmental practice in a situation where they need to know for sure what is happening is known to the Amish.