Texas Department of Health Services

In Lubbock, federal grants helped hire workers to help with measles testing, vaccination to combat the outbreak that has spread to 15 counties.

Abortion is legal in Texas only when the life of the mother or a “major bodily function” is at risk. Doctors, who could face prison time for performing an abortion, have been seeking clarification on the exception.

That raised the number of confirmed cases since January to 309, with 40 patients hospitalized, though the state does not report how many of those have already been released.

Public health experts say Texas needs better messaging on vaccinations and quarantining and more people conducting contact tracing to contain the spread.

State health officials have confirmed 223 cases since late January when the outbreak started.

The names and birthdates of patients at the center of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit against Dr. M. Brett Cooper were mistakenly released in records provided to KERA News.

Declining vaccination rates, decreasing trust in government and a political unwillingness to endorse vaccines is shaping Texas’ measles response.

Last week, OSDH sent out a health alert advising clinicians in Oklahoma to consider measles among patients with compatible symptoms amid a measles outbreak in Texas.

The first death in relation to the ongoing measles outbreak in West Texas has been confirmed by local and state health officials. The patient was an unvaccinated school-aged child, hospitalized in Lubbock last week.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services releases updated numbers of cases every Tuesday and Friday.