Two CPS students, who attend Philip D. Armour Elementary in Bridgeport and Cooper Dual Language Academy in the Lower West Side, shown here, have confirmed cases of measles. Both were at school during the contagious period, CPS said. Of nearly 22,000 Chicago Public Schools students without stable housing at the end of February, fewer than half met all CPS immunization requirements, according to a report provided to the Tribune Thursday by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
Generated a week before public health officials announced the first measles case in Chicago in five years, the report sheds light on the scope of students who may have been at high risk of infection as of Feb. 29. Since then, CPS has announced that two elementary school students are among the 12 cases confirmed by the Chicago Department of Public Health as of Thursday night.
CPS said school nurses and STLS liaisons work with families of those students to help them come into compliance with vaccination requirements. Staff members and students who’ve been vaccinated can feel confident attending school as normal, even if they’ve been exposed, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez wrote in a letter to families Wednesday. Students who aren’t protected through either vaccination or previously contracting measles have been advised to stay home for a 21-day quarantine period beginning with the last day of potential exposure, the district said.
Illinois is among 17 states as of Thursday to report measles cases to the Centers for Disease Control since the start of the year. The first case reported in Chicago, involving an adult on the Northwest Side, was unrelated to the now-quarantined shelter.