3 February 29 - March 6, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ WESTON SPOTTED MEASLES IS BACK AND SPREADING AMONG SOUTH FLORIDA KIDS. BY ALEX DELUCA D on’t call it a comeback — or, in this case, you probably can. The Florida Department of Health is investigating several cases of measles at a Broward County elementary school that is struggling to contain an outbreak of the disease, which was once nearly eradicated in the U.S. As of Tues- day evening, six cases of the highly infectious virus were confirmed at Manatee Bay Elemen- tary School in the affluent suburb of Weston. And health officials fear the virus will only spread further. Nicole Iovine, an infectious disease spe- cialist at the University of Florida, says the reason for the outbreak is simple: Parents aren’t getting their children vaccinated. “They’re not protected,” Iovine tells New Times. “This is what happens when people aren’t vaccinated against a highly infectious disease.” Measles, which spreads via saliva and re- spiratory droplets, can cause serious medical complications such as pneumonia but is com- pletely preventable with a readily available vaccine. Declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, the disease has seen a comeback in re- cent years, everywhere from Philadelphia to Ohio to New Jersey, primarily owing to vac- cine skepticism, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In Broward County, the last reported case was in 2019, the year of the country’s worst measles outbreak since 1992. The CDC re- corded more than 1,200 cases of measles that year, and a study of children infected in New York City showed that nearly 90 percent were unvaccinated. Although two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine are required to attend Florida’s public schools, parents can seek exemptions for religious and medical reasons. Manatee Bay has nearly 1,100 students, 86 of whom are not vaccinated against measles, according to school district figures reported by CBS. Professor Matt Hitchings, an infectious dis- ease epidemiologist and professor of biostatis- tics at the University of Florida, emphasizes that measles can only spread in populations with lower-than-optimal vaccine coverage. “So, if we continue to see more cases in Broward children, it’s safe to say that under- vaccination is the problem here,” he tells New Times. According to the CDC, measles cases often stem from unvaccinated or undervaccinated people who travel internationally and then transmit the disease to others who aren’t vaccinated for it. The disease is still common in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Symptoms of the infection, which causes a red, blotchy rash, typically begin around eight to 14 days after exposure. In severe cases, it can lead to pneumonia or encephalitis. There is no specific medication to treat the disease, and like COVID, the measles vi- rus can remain infectious in the air and on surfaces for hours. “That’s also why there’s so much con- cern,” Iovine says. “In an unvaccinated population, it can spread like wild- fire.” During CO- VID-19, pediatric vaccination rates declined due to widespread vaccine hesitancy and peo- ple’s avoidance of healthcare for fear of catching the virus, Iovine says. But while these numbers have begun to rise again, she doesn’t believe they’ve returned to pre-pan- demic levels. CDC data on kindergarten vaccination rates found an increase in Florida children having documented vaccine exemptions over the past few years. Across Florida, 3.9 percent of kindergartners were granted exemptions for vaccines in the 2022 school year, com- pared to 1.5 percent in 2012. Iovine emphasizes that when it comes to a virus as contagious as measles, people need more than just good hand hygiene to prevent themselves from contracting the infection — they need the vaccine. According to the state health department, the vaccine is more than 98 percent effective in preventing infection. “The message here is vaccination,” Iovine says. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston is struggling to contain an outbreak of measles. Photo by Mark Kegans/Getty Images ▼ FORT LAUDERDALE DANGEROUS WATERS TWO DISNEY CRUISE WORKERS CHARGED WITH CHILD PORN IN A TWO-WEEK SPAN. BY ALEX DELUCA L aw enforcement at Port Everglades kept busy last month intercepting Disney Cruise workers who were allegedly carrying lewd images of children while making their way around the Fort Lauderdale-area cruising hub. Upon the Disney Dream’s arrival at Port Ever- glades on January 17, federal agents searched ship worker Amiel Joseph Trazo’s devices and found material depicting child sexual abuse, ac- cording to court documents. Investigators ze- roed in on the 28-year-old Filipino citizen after receiving nine tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children advising he was in possession of child pornography. Trazo was arrested and booked into the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach, where he remains jailed with an immigration hold pending. His case came to light when a February 19 federal charging document filed against him was obtained by New Times. He allegedly belonged to a group chat where he obtained images of underage children and also received links via Facebook Messenger to files of pornography involving children younger than 10 years old. “[Trazo] stated that he shared these images on Facebook messenger with his friends and a girlfriend in order to ‘tease’ them,” a Broward County criminal affidavit states. “The defendant also admitted that he ‘needs help, knows it’s wrong, and it is bad for his religion.’” Trazo is facing charges in federal and state court. The federal charging document (attached below) says agents located several videos and photos on Trazo’s iPhone 15 Pro Max depicting graphic scenes with children between the ap- proximate ages of 6 and 14. In a statement to New Times, Disney Cruise Line said Trazo’s employment has been termi- nated. “We have zero tolerance for this type of alleged behavior. The crew member is no longer working for the company,” Disney Cruise Line says. Trazo was one of two Disney Cruise Line workers arrested on child porn charges in targeted searches at Port Everglades last month. In late January, Dis- ney Cruise employee Al- vin Gonzales was arrested after agents searched him at Port Everglades and alleg- edly found child porn on his Sandisk Micro SD memory card. Similar to Trazo’s case, the search followed up on tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Gonzales, who is 49 years old, is also from the Philippines. While news reports about Gonzales’ arrest did not identify the ship he worked on, Disney Dream and Disney Magic are currently listed as the only Disney ships with active voyages de- parting from Fort Lauderdale. It’s unclear what job positions Trazo and Gon- zales held on the cruises. Their arrests put Disney Cruise Line under scrutiny at a time when allegations of cruise ship workers’ sexual misconduct involving children have been in national focus. In December, a camp counselor working on Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Silhouette admitted to sexually abusing multiple children in the ship’s Camp at Sea program, according to the FBI. The bureau says the man confessed shortly after a 6-year-old victim and her parents reported him in November for groping her in the ship’s youth center. Last June, a Royal Caribbean musical director was reportedly sentenced to 18 months in prison on child porn charges in Australia. [email protected] TRAZO ALLEGEDLY BELONGED TO A GROUP CHAT WHERE HE OBTAINED IMAGES OF UNDERAGE CHILDREN. “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE AREN’T VACCINATED AGAINST A HIGHLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE.”
