The evening air carries a familiar scent of blooming prairie grasses as I pull into Steinbach, a close-knit community about 50 kilometers southeast of Winnipeg. The town, usually bustling with summer activities, now harbors an undercurrent of concern following recent measles exposure alerts.
“We’re watching this closely,” says Mariam Khalil, a family physician who has practiced in the region for nearly two decades. “What worries me is how quickly measles can spread in areas where vaccination rates have declined.”
Manitoba Health issued alerts this week after a person with a confirmed case of measles visited multiple locations south of Winnipeg between June 10 and June 12. The exposure sites include restaurants in Steinbach and Niverville, two growing communities in Manitoba’s southeastern region.
The infected individual visited a Boston Pizza in Steinbach on June 10 between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m., and Hespeler’s Cookhouse and Tavern in Niverville on June 12 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Public health officials are now working to contact individuals who may have been exposed.
Walking through Steinbach’s Main Street, I notice how the news has rippled through the community. Outside the local pharmacy, Elaine Funk, a grandmother of four, adjusts her sunglasses while sharing her concerns.
“My youngest grandchild is only eight months old—too young for the vaccine,” she explains. “When these alerts happen, it becomes more than just news. It’s personal.”
Measles spreads through airborne transmission when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and the virus can remain in the air for up to two hours. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the disease is so contagious that up to 90 percent of susceptible individuals who are exposed to an infected person will develop measles.
Dr. Philippe LagacĂ©-Wiens, a medical microbiologist at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, emphasizes the particular risk in communities with lower vaccination rates. “Measles requires about 95 percent immunity in the population to prevent spread,” he tells me during a phone interview. “When those rates drop even slightly, we create pockets of vulnerability.”
Data from Manitoba Health shows immunization coverage for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) has declined slightly since the pandemic, with some rural areas reporting rates as low as 80 percent. This creates conditions where measles, eliminated from Canada in 1998 but regularly imported through travel, can take hold.
At the Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach, nurse practitioner Sylvia Reimer recalls the last measles outbreak in 2019. “What many people don’t realize is that measles isn’t just a childhood rash. We saw adults hospitalized with pneumonia and encephalitis—serious complications that can be life-threatening.”
The current case has health officials particularly concerned because the individual was infectious while visiting public spaces during busy hours. Symptoms typically appear 7-21 days after exposure and include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and a characteristic red blotchy rash that appears around the fourth day of illness.
Inside the Chicken Chef restaurant across from Boston Pizza, server Melissa Janzen tells me business has been noticeably slower since the alert. “We’ve had people calling to ask if we’re connected to Boston Pizza or if our staff work at both locations,” she says. “That’s not the case, but people are being extra cautious.”
Manitoba Health has advised anyone who was at the exposure locations during the specified times to monitor for symptoms until early July. Those without immunity to measles—including children too young for vaccination, pregnant women, and individuals with compromised immune systems—face the highest risk.
Dr. Jordan Bernstein, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg, emphasizes the importance of immediate medical attention if symptoms
