Chippewa County now has 33 confirmed measles cases, according to figures from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services posted Oct. 30.
The count has risen quickly. The county had 11 confirmed cases as of Oct. 13, after the Department of Health Services announced its first confirmed case on Sept. 22 and reported 10 cases by Oct. 2.
Officials earlier tied the county's cases to out-of-state travel. The Oct. 30 designation is the first time the state has said the virus is spreading locally within Chippewa County, meaning infections can occur through contact in the community rather than only after travel.
Statewide, the department confirmed 392 measles cases in Wisconsin in 2026 as of Oct. 30. Most of those cases belong to a separate outbreak in Grant, Iowa, Lafayette and Vernon counties in southwest Wisconsin, which the state lists at 336 confirmed and six probable cases, distinct from the Chippewa County cluster.
The department said it is working with local health departments to identify and notify people who may have been exposed. In the sources reviewed for the Oct. 30 update, the state had not published a list of public exposure sites for the Chippewa outbreak, and patient ages, vaccination status and hospitalizations for those cases had not been released.
