Case of the mumps caught in Grant County

by Charles H. Featherstone Staff Writer
| December 14, 2017 2:00 AM

MOSES LAKE — The mumps has returned to Grant County.

According to the Grant County Health District, an unnamed healthcare worker reportedly developed the symptoms of mumps in early December.

“The person with confirmed mumps is a vaccinated healthcare worker with a recent history of travel,” said a GCHD news release.

“The individual developed symptoms on Dec. 2, which means the contagious period was from Nov. 30 through Dec. 7. During the contagious period the worker was present at two Moses Lake healthcare facilities, Samaritan Healthcare and Confluence Health,” the GCHD news release said.

According to the health district, the infected person was at Confluence Health on Thursday, Nov. 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.; and then Friday, Dec. 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:50 p.m.; and finally on Monday, Dec. 4, from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The person was present at Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake from Thursday, Nov. 30 through Friday, Dec. 1, from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

“GCHD staff are collaborating with healthcare partners from Samaritan Healthcare and Confluence Health to identify all staff and patrons who could have been in close contact with the ill individual,” the health district said.

The health district is contacting anyone who has been identified as having been in contact with the infected person and asking them to monitor themselves for the signs and symptoms of mumps through Jan. 1, 2018, as symptoms of the disease sometimes take 12-15 days to appear.

The health district is advising anyone identified as a “close” contact who becomes sick to stay at home to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Mumps is a viral disease that causes aches, pains, fever, and swelling in the face and jaw. The disease is best combated by a vaccination, the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine.

A mumps epidemic swept through Grant County beginning in late 2016, eventually leading to 45 cases identified in the county — 44 of them at the Columbia Basin Job Corps site — and costing Grant County health officials over $100,000 to confront.