The Marquette County Health Department confirmed a case of measles in a Marquette County resident Thursday. A second Marquette County case has since surfaced, along with one in Ontonagon County in a person with ties to Marquette County.

Because the virus that causes measles can remain infectious in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the area, individuals who were at these locations may have been exposed to the first case:

— Moonspun Wool, 219 W. Washington St., Marquette, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, May 19; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 20; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 21.

— Marquette Food Co-op, 502 W. Washington St., Marquette, from 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, May 20.

— Midas, 2192 U.S. 41, Marquette, from noon to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 21.

The second Marquette County case was at these locations:

— First Bank, 1502 W. Washington St., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and 5 to 9 p.m. Friday.

— Meijer, 3630 U.S. 41, Marquette, from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 23.

In addition, this person was in Delta County on Thursday, from noon to 5 p.m. Eastern time at First Bank, 1921 Third Ave. N. in Escanaba.

Anyone who had visited these locations during the stated time frames should contact their health department and monitor themselves for 21 days. If any symptoms develop, stay away from other people and call ahead to inform doctors about the potential measles exposure before visiting a doctor, urgent care or emergency room so they can take precautions to prevent the spread.

The Marquette County Health Department can be reached at 906-475-9977; the Dickinson-Iron District Health Department at 906-774-1868 in Dickinson County and 906-265-9913 in Iron County

Symptoms of measles can include high fever; cough; runny nose; red/watery eyes; white spots on the inner cheeks, gums and roof of the mouth; a rash that is red, raised and blotchy that usually starts on the face and spreads to the arms and legs three to five days after symptoms begin.

While this shouldn’t have you panicked, you should definitely start to be vigilant and keep updated on any future cases in the area.

For some, vaccination has turned into a political topic rather than a medical one. This is a shame.

The recent uptick in measles cases around the United States, responsible for more than 1,100 cases in the United States this year as of Friday, largely comes from a failure to vaccinate.

This already is the second most active year for measles infections in the United States since 2000, when measles was considered eliminated in the country due to the incredibly high success rate of the MMR — measles, mumps and rubella — vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control say the MMR vaccine is 97% effective and cases over the past few decades since the vaccine became widely available show that to be the case.

While 1,125 cases may not seem like a lot, measles is highly contagious and not something to mess around with.

We hope these local cases will be a wake-up call to everyone to start taking proper precautions and, if not already done, consider getting vaccinated.