Hi, Atlanta!

Welcome to our inaugural Healthbeat Atlanta newsletter. As a native of the city, I’m thrilled for the chance to share the latest public health news with you each week — and I look forward to hearing from you. (You can read more about my background here. Reply to this email to reach me.)

Public health work is often invisible — until a disease breaks out or some other crisis arises. It’s hard for people outside of public health to visualize all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps our communities healthy. 

I got a glimpse into the work that contained the metro Atlanta measles outbreak earlier this year while reporting on the state’s vaccination rates. As soon as Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale public health workers were notified of a potential case in a child in January, they sprang into action to ensure the child got tested and to track down people the child had been in contact with. 

They ultimately contacted about 290 people, 31 of whom were at high risk for measles, and 21 of whom got the measles vaccine. 

Workers spoke to health care facilities and ambulance services, and even checked the air flow system at a hospital where the child was seen to make sure patients in rooms that shared air were safe. That’s because measles is highly contagious: It can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves. 

Public health workers contained the case; the only others infected were siblings of the first patient. It took an enormous amount of detailed work. Read more about that in my story.

Do you or someone you know who works in public health have a behind-the-scenes story? I’d love to hear it.