Health-care workers battling measles in southern Ontario say they think about the outbreak from the moment they wake until the moment they sleep.

They say treating and tamping down the surge of a disease most have never seen in their lifetime is constant.

Some have even been infected by patients who unwittingly spread the highly infectious illness while seeking help for early but general symptoms — fevers and coughs are common before the telltale rash appears days later.

Measles has spread to more than 3,000 people in Canada this year. More than 2,000 of those infected are in Ontario.

Here’s a look at caregivers on the front lines of an outbreak that has particularly struck a region south and east of London.

“THE UNLUCKY ONES”

Carly Simpson considers herself one of the “unlucky ones.”

Five days after developing a sore throat, body aches and fever, the nurse practitioner gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, stunned to see red splotches all over her body.

“Oh my gosh this is measles,” Simpson gasped.

She said measles never crossed her mind when she first fell ill mid-March, suspecting a more likely cause was her autoimmune disease, ankylosing spondylitis, which leads to chronic pain and inflammation.

After all, the vast majority of cases had been among the unvaccinated and Simpson said she had been inoculated three times — including a booster in 2015 after a test revealed her previous two shots didn’t lend full immunity.

Simpson said she had been assured at the beginning of the outbreak that three shots would be enough to protect her. She still got sick and was essentially bedridden for days, only mustering enough energy to walk to the bathroom. But she said the rash only lasted a day and never spread to her husband or kids.

“I had a mild case because I’ve been vaccinated,” said Simpson, among five per cent of the outbreak’s cases to involve vaccinated people.

She suspected she was infected by a patient who came to her clinic with virus symptoms a couple of weeks earlier.

Early symptoms can seem like other illnesses until the rash appears, leaving health-care workers who examine them vulnerable to exposure.

“Is this just a common cold? Is it just some viral infection?” she said of the questions that dog caregivers.

2:38
Health Matters: Alberta measles outbreak surpasses 900 cases

Shawn Cowley was unlucky, too. He noticed white spots inside his cheeks in late April, and then a red blotchy rash on his forehead that migrated down his face, and onto his shoulders and arms.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

“Fortunately for me, because I was fully vaccinated I didn’t get the full brunt of measles,” he said, explaining that the rash otherwise would have covered his whole body. Still, it took about a week for his body to recover from the exhaustion.

Cowley is a key player in measles containment as head of emergency management and preparedness at the local health unit, Southwestern Public Health. His case was traced to his son’s hockey tournament.

He eventually told his colleagues that he contracted measles but noted there is “a stigma” associated with the illness.

Cowley also felt guilty for going to the grocery store and filling up on gas before he was symptomatic, potentially spreading it to others.

“When you find out you do potentially have measles, and the number of people I’ve exposed, understanding how virulent measles is, that’s a really hard thing to deal with personally because you put other people at risk.”

“SLOW BURN” 

Dr. Erica Van Daalen calls the outbreak a “slow burn” but one that has required close collaboration among local hospitals to safely treat and isolate measles patients.

The chief of staff at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital said she might see one to three patients in the emergency department on an average day, and often they are children.

As of late May, three infected pregnant women had delivered babies and 15 kids had been admitted. Those include young patients transferred from hospitals in Woodstock and Tillsonburg, which don’t have pediatric units.

“It’s a lot of one-on-one bedside nursing,” Van Daalen said in an interview earlier this spring. “When the days are busy, it wears on the nurses.”

Less than seven per cent of Ontario’s cases have ended up in hospital. But the logistics of safely admitting a measles patient is like expert-level Tetris.

Masked patients are ushered through back doors to negative pressure rooms that keep contaminated air from escaping into other areas of the hospital and infecting more people. The room is sealed and has a system that filters and exchanges the air.

1:49
Infant dies in Ontario after measles infection, other complications

Exposure risks are avoided as much as possible, even trips to the bathroom, said Sangavi Thangeswaran, a registered nurse and an infection control practitioner at both Alexandra Hospital Ingersoll and Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital.

“We ask the patient to stay in there. If they need anything like using the washroom, we try to give them commodes or urinals, just to lessen the exposures,” Thangeswaran said.

There are five negative pressure rooms at Woodstock Hospital. When they’re full, patients are assessed in the ambulance garage, said David Lambie, a charge nurse in Woodstock’s emergency department.

It is an extra layer of logistics to navigate, said Lambie, whose hospital has cared for 108 measles patients since January, 55 of them kids.

Once a patient is well enough for discharge, their negative pressure room is left empty for half-an-hour while contaminated air is expunged. Then it’s deep cleaned for the next patient, said Thangeswaran.

She said each of her Oxford County hospitals initially had just one negative pressure room in each emergency department but as cases swelled they created three more.

As of June 12, her team had cared for 14 measles patients in Ingersoll and 64 in Tillsonburg.

“INHERENT CHALLENGE” 

Van Daalen, of the hospital in St. Thomas, said deciding whether to discharge a kid sick with measles sometimes keeps her up at night.

“You hesitate to send them home because you’re not quite sure how they’re going to land,” she said.

“There are some later-term consequences for kids who have measles. It’s a very rare complication, but we’ll have to keep our surveillance up.”

Dr. Ninh Tran said he felt like he was approaching burnout in late February.

Ontario’s weekly case count had nearly doubled to 177 over a two-week period ending Feb. 27, with almost half of the overall cases located in his southwestern public health unit.

Pressure was high to trace cases, halt community spread and stop infections. Measles was on his mind every moment of the day and night.

“You could sense a bit of tension and anxiety in all this discussion,” Tran recalled in late May.

“It’s always like a temporary feeling of doubt, fear, anxiety when we see numbers go up and there’s just a lot of things coming right at you,” Tran said of the outbreak’s early days.

“And then you have to step back and say, ‘OK, it’s not going to be helpful if I get stressed because I need to — and other leaders have to — figure out a way to move forward.”

The spread of measles has ebbed and flowed, but Tran noted a steady decline of new cases mid-June.

“While it’s still early to confirm a persistent pattern, the consistency of the decrease does suggest a potential shift in the trajectory of the outbreak,” said Tran.

“We are cautiously encouraged.”

1:11
Alberta measles cases highest in 50 years

Southern Ontario is set to get hit with a strong heat wave just in time for the official start of summer.

Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell says a large heat ridge or dome will build over the Ohio Valley in the U.S. and expand into southeastern Canada by the end of the weekend.

With the summer solstice, which occurs on Friday and is the longest day of the year for hours of sunlight, residents in southern Ontario will finally start to feel the true heat after a back-and-forth spring season.

Temperatures are expected to soar into the low to mid 30s for at least three days in southern Ontario and two or more days in Quebec, Farnell said.

The hottest day will be on Monday, when the high is forecasted to hit above 35 C in Toronto, and the humidex could briefly reach as high as 45 C.

“This would be a record for the date and the hottest temperatures we’ve experienced in three years,” Farnell said.

But how long will the heat wave stay?

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Farnell says a cool front will slowly slide in from the south on Tuesday into Wednesday bringing an end to the extreme heat, and the chance of thunderstorms.

He also said there is a risk of some “very strong thunderstorms along the warm front as the heat and humidity sweeps in this weekend.”

“Computer models have not been able to show exactly where these storms will form or when but be on the lookout late Saturday into Sunday morning, especially across cottage country and eastern Ontario for quite the light show,” Farnell said.

However, Farnell did note that temperatures will still remain above seasonal up until Canada Day.

“The first heat wave of the year is always more dangerous because our bodies haven’t yet adapted,” Farnell said.

According to Environment Canada, Toronto is expected to see a high of 25 C on Friday for summer solstice, 28 C on Saturday, and temperatures will soar into the 30s for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

With temperatures expected to be in the 30s this weekend, Windsor’s only public beach will remain off limits for those looking to cool off with a dip.

Last week, city council unanimously voted to close Sandpoint Beach while a coroner’s investigation into the recent drowning of a 15-year-old male is underway.

A spokesperson for the coroner’s office confirmed that it was looking into the boy’s death, however, details of the investigation will not be made public.

“They are released to immediate next of kin only,” the spokesperson noted.

They also said that if there are any recommendations which come out of the inquest, they could be passed along to the city.

It looks like the beach will remain closed through the summer as the investigation will likely last at least six months.

“Each death investigation is unique, but we generally advise that it takes six to nine months to complete a death investigation, depending on the complexity of the case,” the spokesperson said.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

The teen died while swimming on the beach on May 18, becoming the ninth drowning victim in the water since the beach opened to the public in 1980.

“We understand how much Sandpoint Beach means to residents and families, especially during the summer months. However, safety must always be the priority,” Michael Chantler, commissioner of community services, stated in a release.

After council decided to close the beach last week, the city said it would be putting up fencing to close off waterfront access and installing signs to warn visitors of the dangers in the water.

The city said that work is expected to be completed by Tuesday.

“The Parks and Recreation team is moving quickly and with urgency to put safety measures in place to protect the community,” Chantler said.

“We are already on site, developing signage, arranging for additional fencing, and speaking directly with visitors. We want people to know we’re taking this seriously, and we’re doing everything we can right now to prevent further tragedy.”

Temperatures are expected to reach 32 C on Saturday before rising to a high of 34 C on Sunday, according to Environment Canada.

There are other options for area residents to cool off, with splash pads opening last month and a number of indoor pools offering recreational swims.

City outdoor pools are scheduled to open on June 29 in time for the long weekend.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.