BILLINGS — On Sunday, Pastor Jeff Romans delivered a solemn message regarding a Yellowstone County school-aged child who had attended a camp at his church and later tested positive for the measles virus.
“We're sorry for anyone that it affects because... not only is it hard on these families, it's hard on this community,” Romans said Monday.
Watch Pastor Jeff Romans discuss the measles case:
Cornerstone Community Church hosted a Vacation Bible School camp last week, and Romans highlighted the community involvement.
“We had about 110 kids show up throughout the week, and we had about 60 volunteers helping us run the Vacation Bible school,” Romans said.
After learning about the measles cases, church leaders swiftly acted.
“The moment that we found out that there might be a case of measles, we took immediate and proactive actions to try to stop or slow that spread,” Romans said.
Related: First suspected measles case in Billings tied to Cornerstone Community Church
Romans said while the majority of the people who were at the camp were vaccinated, leadership ensured that everyone remained vigilant about precautions.
“We worked hand in hand together to try to make sure that we would eliminate or slow the spread of this thing as much as possible,” Romans said.
Megan Littlefield, the chief medical officer at RiverStone Health, emphasized the importance of quarantine for individuals who are unvaccinated.
“If you've been exposed to measles and you are not vaccinated or you're not otherwise immune to measles, then we ask those people to quarantine for a
full 21 days after their last contact,” Littlefield said.
RiverStone Health also said that individuals can be contagious even if they are unaware they have the measles.
“We then start to look at who that person has been in contact with during the four days before the rash, which is when they are contagious, and we start doing outreach to whoever we can identify that may have been exposed during that time,” Littlefield said.
Romans expressed gratitude towards RiverStone Health for its support during this time.
“They were extremely swift, efficient, nice and helpful,” Romans said.
