A measles outbreak tied to a daycare in Fulton County — home to Alpharetta and Milton — has grown to five cases, after the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed four additional infections Friday, Aug. 28. All four children were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated, according to the Fulton County Board of Health. They are close contacts of an earlier case confirmed Aug. 18 in an unvaccinated metro Atlanta resident who had no known travel history or exposure to an infected person.
The daycare's name and specific location have not been released, so it isn't known whether the facility sits within Alpharetta or Milton or elsewhere in the county. The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), which licenses child care facilities statewide, confirmed it is coordinating with the center and DPH but declined to identify the facility, WSB-TV reported. A DECAL spokesperson said the agency is working with the daycare and DPH to ensure an appropriate response and called the health of children, families and staff its priority. DPH is still identifying additional close contacts.
Georgia's 2026 case count hits 11
The five daycare-linked cases push Georgia's 2026 measles total to 11, CBS Atlanta reported. That is the second-highest annual total in the past decade, behind 18 cases in 2019, according to CBS Atlanta and the state's own case history. Georgia recorded 10 cases in all of 2025.
Nationally, the CDC had confirmed 2,777 measles cases in 2026 as of Aug. 20 — the highest annual total since 1991 — according to the CDC's measles tracker. Georgia's kindergarten vaccination rate stood at about 89% during the 2025-26 school year, below the roughly 95% threshold needed for community-level protection, according to CDC data reported by Atlanta News First. The state's kindergarten vaccine exemption rate was 5.1%, with medical exemptions accounting for just 0.1%.
"Very few people need to pass on the vaccine in order to cause outbreaks," Adam Kraus, director of pediatrics at Mercy Care, told Atlanta News First on Aug. 19 as Georgia's case count was rising.
What parents should know
Measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The virus can linger in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a room, according to DPH. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says up to nine out of 10 unprotected people exposed to measles will become infected.
Symptoms typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure: high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes, followed by a rash of tiny red spots that starts at the head and spreads across the body. DPH urges anyone who develops measles symptoms to call a health care provider before visiting a doctor's office, hospital or clinic.
The CDC recommends children receive their first dose of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine between 12 and 15 months of age and a second dose between ages 4 and 6.
Residents can reach the DPH Epidemiology Section at 404-657-2588 on weekdays or 866-782-4584 after hours. The Fulton County Board of Health's general line is 770-520-7500.
