In Canada, measles was eliminated in 1998. But nope, not anymore! This is seriously the anti-vax timeline we're living in, with Ontario having reported 155 new measles cases in the course of a week last Thursday (April 10), bringing the provincial total to 816 since an outbreak began last fall [via CTV News]. Toronto concertgoers are now being warned of a possible exposure having occurred at Coca-Cola Coliseum earlier this month.
As per Toronto Public Health (TPH), someone who has/had measles attended the April 1 Forrest Frank (they really are just making up guys at this point, aren't they?) concert. They travelled to Toronto from out of town for the occasion, putting everyone else who was in the 9,000-capacity venue between about 5:30 p.m. and midnight at risk of being exposed to the virus. TPH has confirmed two cases of measles linked to travel outside of Canada so far this year.
Anyone else who attended the show is being encouraged to review their vaccination records, as well as to monitor for symptoms — including fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes, and a red rash that begins appearing on the face before spreading down the body, as well as small blue-white Koplik spots inside the mouth and throat — until April 22.
It may or may not surprise you to learn that Frank makes contemporary Christian music, with the popularity of his lo-fi hip-hop take on the genre amongst the worship music boom that we've been seeing in the US alongside the rise (in visibility, anyway) of conservative values, as Billboard reporter Kristin Robinson recently pointed out.
There have been a total of 61 hospitalizations for measles cases across the province, with unimmunized children making up the biggest percentage of those impacted.