The email arrived in inboxes across Manitoba last Friday afternoon, just as families were finalizing spring break itineraries. Beaches, theme parks, family reunions. But tucked between permission slips and lunch menus was a different kind of travel advisory. Public health officials Richard Baydack and Santina Lee were asking parents to think carefully about measles before packing their bags.
It wasn’t a suggestion born from caution alone. Manitoba is in the middle of a measles resurgence that has already rewritten the script for 2026. By mid-March, the province had recorded 319 confirmed cases and 45 probable ones. That’s more than all of last year, compressed into ten weeks. Nationally, Manitoba accounts for roughly 60 percent of Canada’s measles burden so far this year, according to federal data released earlier this week.
The letter sent through school divisions wasn’t alarmist. It was practical. Stay home if your child seems sick. Call ahead if you’re heading to urgent care. Notify the facility immediately so staff can isolate and protect others. The tone was measured, but the timing was deliberate. Spring break means crowded airports, packed resorts, and extended family dinners where a single cough can ripple outward.
Dr. Natalie Bridger, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Memorial University in Newfoundland, has watched measles cases climb across Canada with a familiar dread. She notes that measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine. If one person has it in a room of unvaccinated people, up to 90 percent will contract it. The virus doesn’t need close contact. It hangs in the air for two hours after an infected person leaves. A sneeze in a waiting room can linger long after the patient is gone.
That’s why Manitoba Health issued another alert this Monday. Anyone in the Victoria Hospital emergency department waiting room in Winnipeg on March 20 between 5:10 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. may have been exposed. The window is narrow, but the stakes are high. Unimmunized individuals who were present are urged to contact their healthcare provider within six days for possible preventative treatment.
Measles doesn’t announce itself right away. The first signs are easy to miss or dismiss. A runny nose. A cough. Red, tired eyes. Fever and fatigue. It looks like a dozen other childhood illnesses. But within three days, small white spots often appear inside the mouth or throat, a telltale marker clinicians call Koplik’s spots. Then comes the rash, red and blotchy, spreading from the face downward.
By the time that rash appears, the person has already been contagious for four days. And they’ll remain so for another four. That eight-day window is where the disease does its damage, moving silently through schools, daycares, airports, and holiday gatherings.
Treatment is mostly supportive. Rest, fluids, fever management. There’s no antiviral that clears measles the way antibiotics clear strep throat. The body has to fight it off. For most children, that happens without major complications. But measles can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis, and in rare cases, death. It also temporarily suppresses the immune system, leaving children vulnerable to other infections for weeks or months afterward.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has been tracking the national spread closely. While outbreaks have occurred in other provinces, Manitoba’s numbers stand out. Some of that is due to pockets of under-immunization, where vaccination rates have slipped below the threshold needed for herd immunity. In some communities, that threshold is as high as 95 percent for a disease as contagious as measles.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease physician and researcher at the University of Toronto, has pointed out that measles outbreaks often follow predictable patterns. They ignite in areas with lower vaccination coverage and spread through travel, school gatherings, and communal events. Spring break, he notes, is a perfect storm. Families move across borders, mingle in close quarters, and return home just in time to send kids back to class.
The letter from Manitoba Health wasn’t just about keeping sick kids home. It was also a reminder that prevention exists and works. The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is safe, effective, and widely available. Two doses provide about 97 percent protection. But vaccine hesitancy, access barriers, and misinformation have all contributed to gaps in coverage.
For parents unsure whether their child is up to date, Manitoba Health Links offers a direct line. In Winnipeg, the number is 204-788-8200. Elsewhere in the province, it’s 1-888-315-9257. The service can help families check immunization records, book appointments, and answer questions about symptoms or exposure.
Public health officials are also urging schools and childcare centres to share the letter widely, not just with parents but with staff and volunteers. Anyone working with children is a potential link in the chain of transmission. The province sent the advisory to every kindergarten through Grade 12 school and early learning facility across Manitoba on Friday. Pembina Trails School Division in Winnipeg was among those that forwarded it immediately.
Spring break will come and go. Families will return with sunburns, souvenirs, and stories. But if even a handful of parents pause to check vaccination records, call a doctor about a suspicious cough, or decide to stay home when a child feels off, the arc of this outbreak could bend. Measles spreads fast, but it also stops fast when communities respond with knowledge and care.
The email in the inbox might have seemed like one more thing to scroll past. But for public health officials watching case counts climb, it was a plea rooted in pattern and precedent. Measles doesn’t respect spring break. It doesn’t wait for convenient timing. It moves through the spaces we gather, the moments we celebrate, and the travels we take for granted. And right now, in Manitoba, it’s moving faster than it has in years.
