Los Angeles County confirmed its seventh measles case of 2026 on Wednesday, July 8. The confirmation comes as Beverly Hills Unified School District families face a five-week window to verify vaccination records before the first day of school on Wednesday, August 12, according to published school calendars.
The latest case involves an international traveler who arrived at Tom Bradley International Terminal on British Airways flight 281 on Friday, July 3. The L.A. County Department of Public Health identified potential exposure at Gate 155 between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and on the Hertz Car Rental Shuttle between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. that same day. Anyone present at those locations should monitor for symptoms until Friday, July 24.
The county's sixth case was reported June 26. California has confirmed 51 measles cases statewide, according to the California Department of Public Health. Nationally, 1,814 cases have been confirmed so far in 2026, approaching the 2,288 total for all of 2025.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, called the national situation "the largest measles outbreak in the United States in 25 years." She noted that the 2025 hospitalization rate for measles cases was 11%, with three deaths that year alone.
What BHUSD requires
All new students entering BHUSD schools — Beverly Hills High School, Beverly Vista Middle School, El Rodeo Elementary, and Horace Mann Elementary — must provide proof of two MMR doses, along with DTaP, polio, hepatitis B, and varicella vaccinations, according to the district's annual notification. Students advancing to seventh grade must also have updated records on file.
California does not allow personal or religious belief exemptions. Only medical exemptions, issued through the state's California Immunization Registry Medical Exemption (CAIR-ME) database, are permitted.
State rates hold, but gaps remain
California's statewide kindergarten MMR vaccination rate exceeded 96% in 2024-25, above the 95% herd immunity threshold, according to the CDPH's kindergarten summary report. But 15 of the state's 58 counties fell below that mark the same year.
Nationally, the picture is worse. The kindergarten MMR rate dropped to 92.5% in 2024-25 from 95.2% in 2019-20, leaving approximately 286,000 kindergarteners unprotected, according to KFF analysis of CDC data. Thirty-nine states fall below the 95% target.
Two doses of MMR vaccine provide approximately 97% protection against measles.
What parents should do
L.A. County Health Officer Muntu Davis urged residents to confirm their vaccination status, noting that summer travel increases exposure risk. Measles symptoms — fever, cough, runny nose, red and watery eyes, and a rash starting at the face — appear seven to 21 days after exposure.
BHUSD has not issued a public statement on the outbreak. The district's communications office can be reached at 310-551-5100, extension 2321. Families can look up school-level vaccination rates through the CDPH's "How Well-Vaccinated Is Your School?" tool at cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/School/immunization-levels.aspx.
