Jazz Fest crowds raise measles concerns as doctors urge vaccinations

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – As the Fairgrounds fill with visitors for this year’s Jazz and Heritage Festival, doctors are reminding Louisianans that the influx of travelers could bring more than music and good food – it could also increase the risk of measles.

“We love to have people come. We have a great culture that we like to share with people,” said Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, medical director for infection prevention at Ochsner Health System.

Baumgarten warns that travelers from other states or countries, especially places where measles outbreaks have already occurred, could unknowingly bring the virus into the region.

“That’s why it’s important that we get everybody vaccinated who can,” she said.

More: Medical experts urge trust in proven measles vaccine amid outbreak spanning 25 states

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 800 confirmed measles cases nationwide as of this month, with 624 of them in Texas — Louisiana’s next-door neighbor.

“We’ve got over 600 cases of measles next door in Texas,” said Dr. Mark Kline, chief medical officer at Manning Family Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. “It would be naïve to think we won’t begin to see some pediatric cases here in Louisiana.”

Kline says unvaccinated children and pregnant women are especially vulnerable, and he expects cases in Louisiana to rise in the near future.

“We know that travel being what it is, we will see children with measles here in Louisiana,” Kline said. “We’ve got to be prepared to care for them in the best way that we can.”

Both Ochsner Health System and Manning Family Children’s Hospital have begun retraining medical staff to identify and respond to potential measles cases — something many providers have never seen in person due to decades of low transmission.

Read more: New Orleans hospitals training staff to better identify measles

Earlier this week, the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed the state’s first measles case of the year. There were three confirmed cases in 2024 — all involving unvaccinated individuals who had traveled recently.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.

Copyright 2025 WVUE. All rights reserved.