Georgia · Atlanta · Public Health

Metro Atlanta Daycare Measles Outbreak: Georgia DPH Confirms 4 More Cases, Bringing the State’s 2026 Total to 11

Four more people have measles in Georgia, and all four are close contacts of the single case the state announced a week ago. The Georgia Department of Public Health traced the outbreak to a metro Atlanta daycare and said the children involved were unvaccinated, or only partly so. Georgia’s published case count for the year now stands at 11.

By Kate Thompson Published Aug. 28, 2026, 2:10 p.m. ET 9 min read Four additional cases · No county released

What did Georgia DPH confirm about the daycare outbreak?

Georgia has four more confirmed measles cases, and every one of them is a close contact of the case the state reported a week earlier, the Georgia Department of Public Health said Friday.

The cluster is associated with a metro Atlanta daycare, DPH said. The four are children, and the agency said they had either not been vaccinated at all or had not completed the full series.

DPH said it is still working to identify additional close contacts of the four.

The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning also declined to give the location. A spokesperson told WSB-TV that the agency is “aware of the reported measles exposure involving a childcare center in Metro Atlanta” and is working with the center and DPH on a response.

The daycare has not been identified and no county has been given. The children are minors, and no names, ages or descriptions have been released.

How many measles cases has Georgia recorded this year?

Eleven, on the running count DPH keeps for the state on its own measles page, current as of Aug. 28.

Georgia recorded 10 cases in 2025, six in 2024, and zero in each of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The highest year since 2014 was 2019, at 18. Every other year from 2014 through 2025 falls below this year’s count.

DPH gives no explanation for the movement in those numbers.

When were Georgia’s other 2026 cases announced?

DPH has issued five measles announcements in 2026. They cover a single case in January, a single case in February, three cases in May, the metro Atlanta case earlier this month, and Friday’s four.

Those releases do not add up to the year-to-date total on DPH’s measles page, and DPH has not explained the difference.

What was known about the first case in this outbreak?

The case that started this cluster was announced on Aug. 18, in an unvaccinated metro Atlanta resident. It was Georgia’s seventh case of the year, DPH said at the time.

That patient had no known travel history and no known exposure to anyone else with measles, DPH said when it confirmed the case on Aug. 18.

Friday’s four cases are the close contacts of that patient.

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How does measles spread, and what are the symptoms?

Through the air. DPH said the virus moves from person to person on what an infected person expels by coughing or sneezing, and that it is highly contagious.

The detail that makes a daycare cluster hard to bound is what happens after the infected person leaves: the virus can remain in a room, or on the surfaces in it, for as long as two hours, DPH said.

On timing, DPH said symptoms usually surface 7 to 14 days after someone is exposed. The opening signs the agency listed are a high fever, a cough, a runny nose and eyes that water.

A rash of small red spots follows, DPH said. It appears first on the head and works downward across the rest of the body.

What does DPH say about the MMR vaccine?

DPH said the MMR shot — measles, mumps and rubella — can prevent measles and rubella, that it is safe and effective, and that parents with questions about it or about the schedule can put those questions to their own physician.

The schedule DPH cites is the one recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: a first dose at 12 to 15 months, then a second between the fourth and sixth birthdays.

On how well it works, DPH put figures on it in its earlier announcement: more than 95% of people who get a single dose develop immunity to all three viruses, and a second dose typically lifts that to about 98%.

The Local Alert is not a health agency and gives no medical guidance of its own.

What does DPH tell people with symptoms to do?

DPH said anyone showing measles symptoms should get in touch with a health care provider right away.

DPH added one condition: do not show up at a doctor’s office, a hospital or a public health clinic without calling first to describe the symptoms.

DPH has also told clinicians who suspect measles in a patient to notify public health without delay.

What immunizations does Georgia require for a child in day care?

Georgia sets this out in rule 511-2-2, the DPH chapter on immunization of school children. Its scope is wider than the name suggests. A childcare facility, as the rule defines it, is any day center or nursery — public or private — that cares for, supervises or instructs children, and pre-kindergarten programs are inside that definition.

Rule 511-2-2-.02 requires immunization against 13 diseases before a child starts at any Georgia school or childcare facility. Measles is on that list, alongside mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, varicella, Haemophilus influenzae type B and pneumococcal disease.

The paperwork is a Certificate of Immunization, which a parent or guardian has to file the first time a child enters. DPH identifies it as Georgia Form 3231, and says every child in a Georgia day care, pre-K, Head Start program, nursery or school must have one on file.

A child can start without a completed certificate, but not indefinitely. The rule allows attendance for no more than 90 calendar days from the first day, and only where the parent shows the child is working through the required shots on the shortest intervals the official schedule allows, or files a religious objection affidavit.

Certificates issued to a child mid-series carry an expiration date — the day the next shot falls due, or the day a medical exemption has to be reviewed. A replacement has to reach the school or facility within 30 days of that date, and the rule states plainly that a child whose parents miss that window is not permitted to continue attending.

Two further mechanics from the rule: the certificate follows the child to a new school or facility on transfer, and it goes back to the parent if the child leaves without transferring. Facilities have to keep the certificates current and available for inspection during business hours by DPH or county board of health officials.

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What exemptions does Georgia allow, and what has to be filed?

Two, and they work differently.

The medical exemption runs through a physician. Under rule 511-2-2-.05, where a physical disability, a medical condition or what the rule calls a “physiological idiosyncrasy” would make a particular immunization a danger to a child’s life or health, the physician can issue a Certificate of Immunization marked as a medical exemption. It is valid for one year and can be reissued annually until the doctor decides the shot can safely go ahead.

The religious exemption runs through a sworn document. Rule 511-2-2-.07 exempts a child whose parent or legal guardian has filed a completed affidavit on DPH Form 2208 with the school or childcare facility. The affidavit is sworn before a notary, and the parent affirms that vaccination conflicts with sincerely held religious belief and that the objection does not rest solely on “personal philosophy or inconvenience.”

The affidavit also makes the parent acknowledge, in writing and in advance, that the child may be excluded from a childcare facility or school during an epidemic or a threatened epidemic, and may be required to be vaccinated in that situation.

Separately, the rule allows the requirement to be waived for measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and varicella where there is serologic proof that the child is already immune.

On the broader picture, Atlanta News First reported that CDC data place Georgia among 24 states where the kindergarten vaccine exemption rate has passed 5%. Georgia’s figure was 5.1%, of which medical exemptions accounted for 0.1 of a percentage point. The figure covers kindergarten entry statewide and does not describe the facility in this outbreak.

What can public health do once an outbreak is declared?

Considerably more than it can do on an ordinary day, and the authority sits in two places.

The first is the rule itself. Rule 511-2-2-.07(b) says that when DPH or a county board of health determines an epidemic or the threat of one exists, it has to immediately notify the governing authorities of every school and childcare facility in the affected area. In those circumstances it may require immunization of children whose parents filed a religious objection, and may bar unimmunized children from attending schools or childcare facilities in that area. The same chapter defines an epidemic as an outbreak, or a rise in incidence, that poses what the rule calls “a clear and present risk” — to the public generally, or to groups gathered together.

The second is statute. O.C.G.A. 31-12-3 empowers DPH and every county board of health to require people within their jurisdictions to be vaccinated against a contagious or infectious disease where that disease may occur, whether or not it is an active threat, and lets DPH require other measures to stop infectious matter passing between people. Subsection (b) is the limit: outside an epidemic or an immediate threat of one, the section does not apply to a person who objects in writing on religious grounds.

Isolation and quarantine are a separate section. O.C.G.A. 31-12-4 lets DPH and county boards of health require the isolation or segregation of people with communicable diseases likely to endanger others, and lets DPH place disease carriers under quarantine or surveillance, along with people exposed to an infectious disease or suspected of carrying one, and hold that in place until they are shown to be clear.

Neither the state nor any local board has announced any such determination or order in connection with this outbreak.

Who has to report a measles case in Georgia, and how fast?

Measles is a notifiable disease in Georgia, and the duty to report it does not fall only on doctors.

Rule 511-2-1 defines a reporter to include licensed physicians and clinical laboratories, and beyond them the chief administrator, or a designee, at a range of institutions. The list in the rule covers day care centers and schools, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, health maintenance organizations, campus health services, primary care centers, mental health hospitals and detention facilities.

Every reporter has a duty to notify DPH promptly on discovering an actual or suspected case. Reports can go in through SendSS, the state’s electronic surveillance system for notifiable disease, or by telephone, by letter, or on a DPH form. Outbreaks and unusual clusters, infectious or not, must go promptly either to DPH or to the county health department for the area.

On measles specifically, DPH states that all suspected cases should be reported to it immediately.

The rule also protects the people who report: anyone submitting reports or data to DPH or a county health department in good faith is shielded from civil damages for doing so.

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Which agency holds what, and where does a parent go?

DPH is the state agency. It confirmed the cases, it issued the announcement, it maintains the notifiable disease roster, and it is the body carrying out the contact identification.

The local layer is the public health district and the county health department. DPH funds and works with 18 public health districts covering Georgia’s 159 counties, each district taking in one or more county health departments; the agency publishes a district office directory with contact details.

For a parent, the practical split follows the paperwork. A Certificate of Immunization can come from a physician, a physician assistant or an advanced practice registered nurse, or from a qualified employee of the State Immunization Program or a county board of health, on a form DPH provides or approves. Copies of the departmental immunization schedule are available from DPH or from a county board of health. An exposure question or a report of suspected illness goes to the county health department or to DPH.

The daycare or school holds the certificates themselves, and has to produce them for inspection by DPH or county board of health officials.

This report is part of The Local Alert’s ongoing Atlanta, GA coverage.

What happens next in an outbreak investigation?

The immediate work is finding people. DPH said it is identifying additional close contacts of the four children, which for measles means reconstructing where each of them was while infectious and who shared that space — including, because of the two-hour survival window, people who were never in the room at the same time.

The incubation period sets the clock. With symptoms typically arriving 7 to 14 days after exposure, contacts identified now would be watched across a window measured in weeks rather than days.

Some of what follows will not be public. Under rule 511-2-1-.03, reports submitted to DPH or a county health department and information gathered as part of an outbreak investigation are confidential and not open to public inspection.

There is an end product, though. When an outbreak investigation is concluded, DPH’s final report may be released publicly as long as it carries no personally identifiable data. If an investigation is expected to run beyond 90 days, the rule allows DPH to publish interim reports on the same terms.

One further step is built into the rules where a licensed health care facility is involved: DPH has to notify the Department of Community Health when a reported disease is clinically severe, and again if such a facility refuses to follow public health recommendations.

What we don’t know yet

Frequently asked questions

What did Georgia DPH confirm on Aug. 28, 2026?
DPH said it had confirmed four additional measles cases in Georgia, and that all four were close contacts of the case the agency announced the previous week. DPH tied the outbreak to a daycare in metro Atlanta and said the children had either not been vaccinated or had not completed the series.

Where is the daycare?
That has not been released. DPH placed the outbreak in the metro Atlanta area and named no county, no city, no neighborhood and no facility.

How many measles cases has Georgia recorded in 2026?
DPH’s own measles page listed 11 cases for the 2026 reporting year as of Aug. 28, 2026. The same table lists 10 cases for 2025 and 6 for 2024.

Is that a high number for Georgia?
It is the highest annual figure in DPH’s published table since 2019, when the state recorded 18 cases. Apart from 2019, no year from 2014 through 2023 went above six, and seven of those years stood at zero.

Were the four children vaccinated?
DPH said the children had either not been vaccinated at all, or had not finished the full course. The agency did not break that down further, and it released no names, ages or descriptions.

How does measles spread?
DPH said the virus travels through the air when someone who is infected coughs or sneezes, and that it can remain in a room, or on surfaces there, for as long as two hours after that person has gone.

What symptoms did DPH describe, and when do they appear?
DPH said symptoms usually show up 7 to 14 days after exposure and begin with a high fever, a cough, a runny nose and eyes that water. Small red spots follow, appearing first on the head and moving down across the body.

What vaccinations does Georgia require for a child in day care?
Georgia rule 511-2-2-.02 requires immunization against 13 diseases, measles among them, before any child starts at a Georgia school or childcare facility. A parent or guardian has to file a valid Certificate of Immunization, Georgia Form 3231, the first time a child enters.

Can a Georgia parent opt out of the required vaccines?
There are two routes in the rule. A physician can issue a Certificate of Immunization marked medical exemption for a child whose condition would make a particular shot dangerous, and that certificate is good for one year. A parent can instead file a notarized affidavit of religious objection, DPH Form 2208, with the school or childcare facility.

Can public health keep an unvaccinated child out of a daycare during an outbreak?
Rule 511-2-2-.07 gives DPH and county boards of health that power once they determine an epidemic or the threat of one exists in an area. In that situation the rule says they must immediately notify the schools and childcare facilities in the affected area, may require immunization of children whose parents filed a religious objection, and may bar unimmunized children from attending.

Who has to report a measles case in Georgia?
Under rule 511-2-1-.02 the duty falls on physicians, clinical laboratories and the administrators of institutions, day care centers and schools among them. They are required to notify DPH promptly on finding an actual or suspected case, and DPH’s measles page says suspected measles should be reported immediately.