Health officials warn of several measles exposure incidents in Interior Health region

A vial of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is pictured at the Taber Community Health Centre in Taber, Alta., Monday, July 28, 2025. (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press)

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has published several new warnings about possible measles exposures in the Interior Health region.

The exposure incidents occurred at establishments in Summerland, Kelowna and Penticton on Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2, according to the BCCDC.

Exposure notices are issued when public health officials are unable to identify and contact everyone who may have been present.

“There may be additional community settings where exposures have occurred,” the BCCDC website reads. “Immunization is the best way to prevent measles.”

The exposures reported this week were:

Aug. 31 in Summerland

• Lakeside Calvary Chapel, 9710 Brown St., from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Summerland Community Centre, 9710 Brown St., from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Shaughnessy’s Cove Restaurant, 12817 Lakeshore Dr. S, from 6:30 p.m. to closing​

Sept. 1 in Kelowna

• ​Chicko Chicken Restaurant, 564 Truswell Rd., from 6 p.m. to 8:40 p.m.

Sept. 2 in Penticton

• McDonald’s (with PlayPlace), 1804 Main St., from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Walmart, 275 Green Ave. W, from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Those who may have been exposed should monitor themselves for symptoms of measles and use the BCCDC’s exposure risk assessment tool to determine next steps, the agency said.

“People who are most at risk of infection are those who are completely unvaccinated against the disease, including children under one year of age,” the BCCDC said.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads easily through the air, and symptoms can develop between seven and 21 days after exposure. Those who are completely unvaccinated against the virus – including children under one year old – are at greatest risk.

Most people in Canada are immune to measles due to vaccination or previous infection. However, the prevalence of the disease has been increasing in recent years as vaccination rates have dropped.

This year, Alberta and Ontario have seen large outbreaks of measles. British Columbia has seen a total of 242 confirmed cases in 2025, as of the BCCDC’s most recent update on Thursday. Just four of those cases – all of them in the Northern Health region – were considered “active” and communicable.

In B.C., the measles vaccination rate among seven-year-olds was 72.4 per cent in 2023, the latest year for which data is available. That’s down from a rate of 90.9 per cent a decade earlier.