The Speed on Green camera program simply upgrades the red-light cameras so that vehicles that are speeding can be detected and cited while the traffic signal is in its green phase.

“So, it’s the same rules as all of our all of our other speed cameras,” said Wade Holland, the Vision Zero Coordinator for Montgomery County. “We’ll just be basically getting more bang for our buck with our red-light cameras. So, detecting red light violations during the red phase, but then detecting speeding violations during those green phases. Same fines, same rules all apply.”

Holland said in a case where the same driver gets a citation for blowing through a red light and who was speeding at the time, one citation 鈥� for the red-light violation 鈥� would be issued.

Holland said just as signs on the roadway have to alert drivers that a red-light camera is ahead, drivers will also see warnings posted where the speed-on-green cameras are posted.

“If it’s a speed camera, whether it’s on the side of the road or up in the traffic signal, we are required to post that there is a speed camera along that corridor. Now, granted, it may not be right in front of that camera. The speed limit signs tend to be a little further upfield from the intersection, but they will be warned,” he said.

Holland said the plan is to have the two test speed on green cameras up and running at the intersections of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road and University Boulevard by the end of the year.

Holland and Earl Stoddard, the Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer for the county spoke during Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s weekly briefing with reporters.

Elrich asked them both to explain how far above the speed limit drivers can go before they get cited for speeding.

Stoddard pointed out that it’s 11 miles per hour above the posted speed. Once a driver goes 12 miles over the limit, the fines kick in.

“It’s graduated from there, so it it’s basically based on how much faster beyond the 11 that you’re going, it will dictate the size of the fine, and that’s a that’s a state law change that took effect last year,” he said.

Stoddard said Speed on Green cameras will not be installed at all 76 locations where there are currently red cameras.

“We’re going to figure out where it makes sense and where it’s legally permissible to do it,” said Stoddard. “Because it’s not necessary in all situations.”

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Nationally, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that during the 2025-2026 school year, vaccination coverage rates for MMR 鈥� measles, mumps and rubella 鈥� dropped to 92.4%. That’s down from 92.5% the previous year.

The same data showed that the number of children who were exempted from vaccinations climbed from 3.6% to 4.2%

“That is cause for concern because there are children that have died from having the measles,” Wright told reporters.

She said she was certain that school districts as well as the Maryland Department of Health would be tracking immunization rates as the school year starts.

In Maryland, state officials report the number of children getting immunized ahead of the start of school remains high.

According to Maryland Department of Health data, statewide vaccination rates for measles actually increased slightly from 96.4% in the 2024-2025 school year to 96.7% in the 2025-2026 school year.

But the rate of exemptions in the 2025-2026 school year increased, to 2.5% versus 2.2% in the previous year. The records also indicate that most exemptions were requested on religious grounds.

The Maryland data is based on the 65,469 kindergarten students enrolled in the 2025-2026 school year.

Currently, Maryland has confirmed . Nationwide, the number of measles cases has hit a 35-year-high with the .

After the Trump administration issued an executive order Aug. 10 calling for a reduction in the number of vaccines from 18 to 11, Maryland’s Department of Health issued a statement saying the childhood immunization schedule required by the state would not change.

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Maryland Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright told reporters that the state won’t be telling local school districts whether to limit screen time for instruction.

Instead, Wright said, Maryland officials will keep an eye on what districts choose to do. Wright said she’s aware that there’s increased concern from parents about how much instruction time is carried out using tech versus direct instruction from a teacher.

“To me I think, there’s got to be a happy medium,” Wright said.

She added that any policy changes on screen time would likely be tied to grade level.

Regarding students in kindergarten through third grades, Wright said, “I think that’s where you’re probably going to see, based on a lot of the research that’s out there now, less screen time.”

When it comes to younger children who are just learning to decode as they learn to read, Wright said they need “more face-to-face interaction with the teacher and the adults in the room.”

“That is just the beginning of everything; the beginning of socialization, the beginning of learning communication,” Wright said. “All of that starts at a very young age, particularly if you’re learning to read.”

Joshua Michael, president of the Maryland State Board of Education also spoke during Tuesday’s back-to-school briefing.

“We’ve seen some of our districts, like in Baltimore City, that have really reduced screentime K-3, so we’re carefully watching” what those districts do, Michael said.

Referencing the decision by Baltimore City schools, Michael said, “I’m very happy to have less screen time in the classroom.”

Michael said the state doesn’t want to make a decision that it would find itself reversing, so education leaders will continue to monitor how local school districts handle the issue, and what they find.

“There are some things that technology’s really meaningful for, and has really moved the needle for us,” Michael said. “In other ways, I think we’re getting away from the foundations of social interactions and the core 鈥� how we understand teaching and learning.”

In Montgomery County, the board of education passed a resolution to study the impact of screentime for instruction and expects to complete its report in March of 2027.

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An estimated 79,000 residents received notices from the MVA in July reminding them about the state’s vehicle registration requirements.

Current state law requires car owners who reside in Maryland to register their vehicles within 60 days.

Starting Oct. 1, 聽take effect.

Maryland residents with out-of-state plates will be notified that a case has been opened and will have 60 days to register their vehicle.

If the vehicle remains unregistered after that period, the owner can be fined $7 a day for up to 60 days, with a maximum penalty of $420.

After 120 days, the MVA could notify local jurisdictions, which could pursue civil action that includes booting, towing or impounding the vehicle and seizing its out-of-state plates.

residents having trouble registering their vehicles because of debt or other financial restrictions can contact the agency for assistance and information about payment options.

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Joshua Tabora, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ furbearer biologist, told 小萝莉影视, “This is not an animal that’s going to seek out conflict unless something is really wrong.”

Something was really wrong with the two beavers who bit people at Cunningham Falls State Park. Both tested positive for rabies. The beaver in the third attack at Seneca Creek State Park was not found, but presumed rabid.

The remains of another beaver were found in the park. However, Tabora said, they were not in a condition that would allow for rabies testing.

Rabies is not common in beavers.

“Consistently our positives are in raccoons, skunks, foxes, domestic cats, then bats, in that order,” Dr. Jen Riley, managing director at Blue Ridge Wildlife Center in Boyce, Virginia, said in an email to 小萝莉影视, and that cows and horses come up positive for rabies more often than beavers.

So how could at least three of them have contracted the virus? Tabora said testing helped answer that question.

“There are specific strains of rabies that originate in different species,” he said. Referring to the first beaver attack, he said, “In this case, that animal was positive with raccoon-type rabies.”

“We don’t have any indication 鈥� and I’ve been on record saying this a number of times 鈥� that there’s an elevated rabies prevalence rate in either Frederick or Montgomery County,” Tabora added. “We don’t think that the raccoon population is elevated from any previous year either.”

So while it might be logical to assume that there are more interactions between beavers and raccoons, it’s not clear at this point why that might be happening.

“I think it might be too early to pin it on anything in particular,” Tabora said.

Tabora, who specializes in studying and monitoring a wide group of mammals in Maryland, said he doesn’t want anyone to panic when they see a beaver in the wild. And while beavers are crepuscular, meaning they tend to be most active at night or at dawn, people should not assume they are rabid just because they see them in the middle of the day.

“There really aren’t any animals in Maryland that I would be alarmed to see at any time of day. So just because you see a raccoon for example, out and active at noon does not mean by itself that that animal is rabid,” Tabora said.

When it comes to any wildlife encounter, Tabora said keeping a 25-yard distance is advisable. Beavers can weigh anywhere from 25 to 70 pounds, with the latter being “an exceptionally large animal.”

Tabora said while their first reaction when spotting a human will be to dive deep underwater to get away, they “can be territorial, so it’s not inconceivable that a beaver could bite,” if a human gets unusually close to the beaver or its den, for example.

So while you shouldn’t assume a raccoon, fox or beaver seen during the daytime has rabies, Tabora said there are signs to look out for.

“If you see an animal that is out during the day and it’s walking in circles, or and it’s foaming at the mouth, or it’s disoriented, or it doesn’t have a fear of people,” then, Tabora said, you’ll want to contact authorities.

If a rabid animal is suspected in parks, Tabora suggested calling the DNR Wildlife Hotline at 410-260-8540. That’s the number to report sick or injured wildlife.

In cases where rabies exposure may have taken place, Maryland Department of Health officials suggest contacting the local animal control agency, the health department or police.

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Every Friday morning, in an Aspen Hill, Maryland, parking lot, a long line forms as staff and volunteers with AfriThrive provide locally grown, fresh food to people who struggle to afford groceries.

Lots of nonprofits have food distribution programs, but what sets AfriThrive apart is the priority of providing culturally-appropriate foods to the population it serves: low-income African immigrants.

Charles Choti, founder and director of community engagement and partnerships at AfriThrive, said that for many of the African residents in the D.C. region, finding familiar foods can be a challenge.

AfriThrive includes a food-production program, where produce is grown locally on a two-acre space in Poolesville and at community gardens in Montgomery County. The self-sustaining approach, Choti said, answered the question the founders had in creating the program: “If this food can be grown in America, why can’t we do so?”

The mobile pantry program makes it easier for recipients to access foods they’re familiar with.

“We promote healthy eating, where people consume not only the food they are familiar with, but the food that really benefits their body,” Choti said.

Peaches, corn, cabbage and beets are available at the weekly distributions. But some of the biggest draws are vegetables that are staples in dishes from many African countries.

Stephen Omboga, food operations coordinator at AfriThrive, ticked off a few of the most popular greens on a folding table: managu, saga, and callaloo. All are leafy green vegetables gathered in bunches. Omboga called the offerings “food that is tailored for your culture.”

In June, AfriThrive began creating its Food as Medicine program.

Oluwasefunmi “Seph” Obielodan coordinates the outreach effort, which will link 80 prescreened participants with clinicians and food providers to address diet-related health issues.

She said many similar programs aimed at immigrant communities often see high dropout rates.

“People start, but they don’t finish because a lot of those projects don’t factor in the fact that this person is from Ethiopia, this person’s from Kenya, this person’s from Nigeria,” Obielodan said, adding that foods favored by one group may be unfamiliar to another.

By tailoring the foods that participants receive through the Food as Medicine program and working with clinicians, Obielodan believes the organization can boost the success rate and address conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

“Because again, the food we are providing is dietician-approved,” she said.

While AfriThrive’s target is serving African immigrants, Latino and Asian immigrants also participate in the food distribution program. Volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds as well.

Gity Nabaiee describes herself as the “trash lady,” explaining that she helps clean up and break down the boxes and tables at the Friday morning distributions. She’s been volunteering for six years.

Asked why, she didn’t hesitate: “I’m Iranian. And Iranian old culture is nothing in the world is better than serving people.”

Nabaiee said when she sees the smiles on recipients’ faces, “It makes me happy.”

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Dr. Bill Hazel, CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities, told 小萝莉影视 that his organization works to “match people who are looking for meaningful careers in healthcare with the education and training that prepares them for jobs in today’s healthcare environment.”

His nonprofit is among several organizations involved in a four-day training session at George Mason University called “Sources of Strength,” a mental health program already in several school districts in the D.C. region.

“Loudoun County has been very forward-thinking in bringing these programs into the schools,” he said.

Thirty people are taking part in the current session, many of them George Mason University students. The group also includes students from Rappahannock Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, as well as Claude Moore-sponsored AmeriCorps members.

Once participants complete their training and are certified, they will work in school communities with adults and students in the mental health strategies aimed at suicide prevention.

“We found that there’s great interest in being trained. People do recognize issues out there that youth have. They do want to help and they need to learn how to help,” Hazel said.

The training is vital, said Hazel, adding, “Our feeling is that we needed to have people trained to be able to work effectively and safely,” in schools and the community.

The four-day training session is also being done in partnership with the Ryan Bartel Foundation, which was created in memory of Ryan Bartel, a Loudoun County 17-year-old who died by suicide in 2014.

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

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Makaylah Phelps is not a judge, but she is a rising high school senior at Montgomery Blair High School.

Seated in a black judge鈥檚 robe in a Montgomery County courtroom, she carried herself with the authority of a veteran jurist on the bench.

She and more than 30 other high school students were taking part in the Montgomery County State鈥檚 Attorney鈥檚 Office Summer Academy.

Saher Kataria, a senior at Northwest High School, was the prosecutor in the mock trial and was confident of a win in a case where the charges included robbery and assault.

Kataria said that during the weeklong summer session, students heard from attorneys, judges and law enforcement officials and she kept in mind the advice of one attorney who told students to stick to a theme in their arguments.

Kataria said when she came up with her closing argument, she kept one thing in mind: 鈥淵ou cannot outrun evidence.鈥�

鈥淭he defense tried to outrun the police, tried to outrun the blame by pushing it on to someone else, but at the end of the day, you cannot outrun evidence,鈥� she explained.

Ela Komuntale, who will be a junior at Winston Churchill High School this fall, was among the members of the jury in the mock trial.

When asked for her verdict on the performances of her peers, she said, 鈥淚 think they did amazing,鈥� adding that the attorneys鈥� closing arguments on both sides were powerful.

鈥淚 felt real drama,鈥� Komuntale said. 鈥淚 felt like they weren鈥檛 just reading off a script. They were actually emulating the witnesses or victims in the situation.鈥�

She added, 鈥淚 feel like this kind of shows how the amendments and all the things we鈥檙e taught 鈥� how they actually work in real life.鈥�

Asked if she felt the weeklong session is helping her understand her rights, Komuntale said 鈥�100%.鈥�

Fellow juror Brianna Abercrombie, a rising junior at Sherwood High School, agreed with the other students that the weeklong session is bringing classroom lessons to life in a new 鈥� and vivid 鈥� way.

鈥淎ll the speakers are amazing,鈥� said Abercrombie, adding that the students heard from a variety of speakers who shed light on the day-to-day operations of the justice system.

鈥淚 loved it. It was so interesting,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was super informative, absolutely amazing.鈥� When asked if she鈥檇 give it a nine out of 10, Abercrombie said, 鈥淭en out of 10, would recommend.鈥�

After a brief recess, it was time to let the jury deliberate. Within minutes, they made their decision. Phelps, in her role as judge, directed the jury foreman to announce the findings. The verdict was not guilty on both counts.

Phelps turned to the jury and said, 鈥淛ury, we appreciate your service and cooperation in this case today,鈥� and then asked the defense if they wanted to poll the jury. One by one, they confirmed their decision.

State鈥檚 Attorney for Montgomery County John McCarthy said the weeklong sessions are a great way to help students understand the legal system.

鈥淢any things go into deciding what to charge, not to charge, many things go into deciding what the punishment should be for a certain crime,鈥� he said. And getting a close look at what goes into those decisions, he said, is important.

Asked if he saw any future legal eagles among the participants, McCarthy said, 鈥淚 think I should be handing out job offers to about half the people I have here today. They would be great. They鈥檙e very, very smart young kids.鈥�

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“If it wasn’t such a serious affront to the health of Americans and their children, it would be laughable,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association.

While the order itself doesn’t draw a direct line between autism and vaccinations, Benjamin pointed to remarks Trump made Monday, saying the president suggested changes to the vaccine schedule could have a major impact on autism rates.

“All the commentary was around autism, which has not been shown to be caused by vaccines in any kind of way,” Benjamin said.

The executive order calls for splitting up the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three separate shots. It also recommends administering all childhood immunizations at separate appointments whenever possible.

Benjamin said the changes could increase the possibility of missed vaccinations and create additional burdens for parents and their children.

“Every time a parent has to come back, that would be another copay for another visit, that means another taking off from work, that means bringing that kid back,” Benjamin said. “This creates more of a burden for parents, and more discomfort for kids.”

Benjamin said the combined MMR vaccine has been safe and effective.

Another recommendation Benjamin took exception to would shift further away from the universal vaccination for Hepatitis B for most newborns. Instead, the executive order recommends Hepatitis A and B vaccines for certain high-risk groups or through discussions between parents and doctors.

“We discovered that when you give that vaccine early, then those kids don’t get hepatic cancer later on,” Benjamin said, referring to the Hepatitis B vaccine.

“We’re spending our time and effort going backwards into the Dark Ages,” Benjamin said.

The White House announcement comes as measles cases have hit their highest level in 35 years.

Benjamin is not alone in his criticism.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Health Committee, : “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong,” adding that vaccines don’t cause autism.

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Don Schaffner, professor of food microbiology and chair of the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University, said he and his co-host started the podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People really seem to like it,” he said. “It’s a short-form podcast. Right now, we put it out three times a week.”

Schaffner co-hosts the podcast with Ben Chapman, department head of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. The latest episode deals with the salmonella outbreak surrounding jalapeno peppers.

“What apparently happened is we had some jalapeno peppers that were contaminated with salmonella at some point along the growing process, or the distribution chain, and some people ate those jalapenos and they got sick,” Schaffner said.

Earlier this summer, the focus was on cyclospora, the parasite that was blamed for causing the spread of an illness that infamously featured what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described as watery and 鈥渆xplosive diarrhea.鈥�

Schaffner said despite concerns over the safety of produce, people can still eat both iceberg lettuce and jalapeno peppers, because the overall food supply is safe.

“Of course if you have information about the product that shows that it is one of the products that has been linked to the outbreak, you shouldn’t consume it,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that all iceberg lettuce or all jalapenos are unsafe. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.”

When asked about whether there seems to be more outbreaks of foodborne illness, Schaffner said that, “the most recent CDC numbers indicate that foodborne disease is not going up, but it’s not really going down either.”

With headlines about the most recent illnesses tied to food contamination, Schaffner said it doesn’t mean the food supply is getting less safe.

The “FDA is always investigating multiple outbreaks and as we learn the cause, it gets some attention,” he said.

Schaffner said if people are looking for guidance on food safety, a good source is the federal government’s website

The site includes information on outbreaks, recalls and how to store and prepare food safely at home.

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To maintain their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, recipients have to “work 20 hours a week or more, or 80 hours a month or more,” said J.D. Douglass-Robinson, the acting director of the Maryland Department of Human Services Office of Benefits Access.

Those activities can include going to work at a paid job, taking part in employment and training programs, volunteering “or any mixture of those three things.”

Nearly 36,000 Marylanders lost their SNAP benefits after the changes took effect Nov. 1.

The links users to 46 employment and training partners, which Douglass-Robinson said will help recipients meet the SNAP requirements and, “sets them up for success once they leave those programs” and look for job placement.

Recipients will be able to take part in 12- to 16-week training programs depending on the types of employment and training they choose.

“They can filter what kind of job fields they want to look for, so things like hospitality, automotive, childcare, health care, etc.,” Douglass-Robinson said.

“They’ll be able to look and see what training providers are in their area, and we’re trying to make it as seamless as possible for customers to enroll in this program and start building a career,” he said.

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William Vance Payne II, 58, of Virginia, was killed in the two-vehicle, Tuesday morning crash in Germantown. Police said the other driver was a 13-year-old boy in a stolen car.

“If the child is 15 or over, then the child could be tried as an adult. But if a child has not reached his 15th birthday yet, then that child can only be tried as an adult if the act that he committed would be punishable by life imprisonment,” criminal defense attorney Steve Vinick, with the law firm Stein Sperling, told 小萝莉影视.

In a case involving a 13-year-old, Maryland law would place that child in juvenile court, Vinick said.

“If the person stays in juvenile court, they are getting a huge break. No. 1, they can be detained, but only to the age of 21. In addition, everything that happens in juvenile court is sealed. It will never come up again unless the child, as an adult, commits an offense, and then the juvenile record can be referred to,” he said.

Potential charges in a case like this vary, he said. One possibility is a charge of manslaughter by vehicle gross negligence, “and the other would be manslaughter by criminal negligence.”

“Gross negligence in Maryland is defined as reckless disregard for the safety and life of others,” Vinick said.

“If a person is, for example, driving 100 mph, or deliberately going through red lights, never stopping, swerving around,” he said, that would fall in the category of gross negligent manslaughter and could carry a 10-year prison sentence.

Criminal negligent manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison for first offenders.

Maryland’s juvenile laws came under scrutiny during the 2026 Maryland General Assembly session when the Youth Charging Reform Act was passed and signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore.

The law, which goes into effect Oct. 1, stops the automatic charging of juveniles as adults for certain crimes, instead, starting those cases in juvenile court.

Supporters of the bill argued many of the cases funneled to adult court ended back in juvenile court, and insisted that automatic adult prosecution didn’t make communities safer.

Opponents including the Maryland State’s Attorneys’ Association argued the legislation should have been put on hold for three years, until the Department of Juvenile Services could provide more programming for young offenders.

Vinick said juvenile court serves a much different purpose than adult court.

“The goal is to get this person, this child, this minor rehabilitated and put on the right track, so that when they become an adult and they’re no longer under the jurisdiction of juvenile court, they can live a productive life and not get in trouble or not commit offenses,” he said.

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According to the county law, firearms can’t be carried within 100 yards of public spaces, including parks, schools and houses of worship.

During his weekly briefing with reporters, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he couldn’t comment on pending litigation but reaffirmed his support for the law.

“I’ll reaffirm my support for any and all measures that we can take to reduce gun violence,” Elrich said. “Our job is to try to protect people. And gun legislation is important in accomplishing that.”

Asked about the U.S. Department of Justice’s legal challenge, Elrich said, “It’s really hard for me to reconcile the Constitution with the blanket, you know, ‘Anybody can have a gun, anywhere, any time’ kind of mentality. Because, you know, what the Constitution talks about is a well-regulated militia.”

Previous legal challenges to the county’s restriction on where firearms can be carried prompted the Montgomery County Council to revise the law.

Opponents of the original version pointed out that just driving through the county with a firearm 鈥� even if the car’s occupants had a license to carry 鈥� would put them in violation of the law.

But another lawsuit, filed by the Silver Spring Jewish Center, argues even with the changes, synagogue members who volunteer to provide security to the center could still violate the law.

Rabbi Menashe Shapiro, an ordained Orthodox rabbi, is a plaintiff in the center’s lawsuit against the county and said the law violates not only the Second Amendment but also their rights to freely exercise their religion.

“We allege that this is a violation of the free exercise clause 鈥� the ability to exercise our religion,” Shapiro said. “We assert that we have a belief, a sincerely held religious belief, to defend our community when necessary.”

Shapiro said the Jewish community had been at greater risk and subject to increased threats in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel.

“Right here, in Montgomery County, Maryland, Jewish communities have experienced a dramatic increase in antisemitic attacks,” he said. “We would like to continue to use a volunteer security team 鈥� of which I am a member 鈥� to defend the community.”

“We’re on site. We know the people. We know the space, and we’re all highly trained,” Shapiro told 小萝莉影视.

“Our job is to try to protect people, and gun legislation is important in accomplishing that,” Elrich said in discussing all three of the lawsuits Montgomery County faces.

Asked about the cost of defending against the legal challenges, Elrich said, “Nobody likes spending money unnecessarily, but we’re not going to know whether it’s unnecessary until we play this out in court.”

“I would rather fight and then surrender when I have to surrender if there’s a court decision than to prematurely surrender.”

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And according to the latest data, vaccination rates are ahead of last year’s at this time, said Dr. Kisha Davis, Montgomery County’s health officer.

“I am cautiously optimistic that our numbers of measles vaccinations and all聽school-age vaccines are good; are where they’re supposed to be,” she said Wednesday.

That’s especially important, Davis said, as more measles cases are reported across the country and in Maryland.

By late July, the U.S. had more reported cases of the measles than the 2,289 in 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The measles virus in Maryland is relatively contained. This week, a new case on the Upper Eastern Shore, brought for the year.

“When we see cases in Maryland, and we do every year, we will see a few sporadic cases of measles that usually pop up outside of the county,” Davis said.

“They don’t have anywhere to spread because our vaccination rates are so high, and that’s why we are not seeing the outbreaks that we’re seeing in other states because we’ve maintained such a high vaccination rate.”

Davis spoke during Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s weekly briefing and was joined by Dr. Georges Benjamin, the CEO of the American Public Health Association.

“We’ve got good public health officials, a good system in Maryland,” Benjamin said, “and I encourage people to make sure, particularly now as they’re getting ready to plan going back to school, for parents to get all their kids vaccinated.”

Benjamin said that some of the reported measles cases occurred among people who were unvaccinated.

“Being unvaccinated puts you at an extraordinary risk of (contracting) vaccine-preventable diseases,” he said, “and the key word is vaccine-preventable diseases.”

And every case is a “tragedy,” Benjamin said.

“This is a disease you don’t want to get. You get really, really sick when you get measles,” he said.

Measles outbreaks also carry a high economic cost, forcing state and local governments to spend as much as $50,000 to manage each case, Benjamin said.

“That’s money that could be used for education. That’s dollars that can be used for our roads. That’s dollars that can, you know, be used for other things that the county council and the county executive and the citizens of our county聽believe are most important,” he said.

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