By Sam Karas
OJINAGA — News broke on Tuesday morning that two children from a Mennonite community in central Chihuahua had passed away from measles — one of them in Ojinaga, marking the border city’s first death from the contagious disease. Neither of the children was vaccinated.
The two children were the latest in an outbreak concentrated in Texas, now considered the nation’s largest since 2000, when the disease was declared eradicated thanks to widespread vaccination. However, vaccine rates have lagged over the past two decades, resulting in an outbreak of the infection earlier this year.
At press time, 722 cases have been reported in the Lone Star State, resulting in 92 hospitalizations and two fatalities. Gaines County, considered to be the epicenter of this outbreak, has a significant Mennonite population and a vaccination rate of just 82%.
Despite the close relationship between Presidio and Ojinaga, the deaths have not raised a major alarm among community members. Presidio ISD Superintendent Carmen Rubner reported a 100% districtwide vaccination rate. “We will follow all guidance provided by The Texas Department of State Health Services to keep our students safe,” she wrote in a statement to The Sentinel.