School IAQ Brief on Measles and Indoor Air Quality in Schools
This School IAQ Brief introduces cleaner air as an important tool schools can use as part of a comprehensive strategy to prevent the spread of measles infections.
Measles in Schools: Indoor Air Quality as a Risk-Reduction Tool
Clean Air Allies School IAQ Brief
Written by JuNelle Harris
Published June 2026
Measles cases are rising. According to CDC data, confirmed cases for 2025 totaled 2,288, more than 25 times higher than those in 2000. Year-to-date cases as of late June 2026 were nearly equal to 2025’s annual total.
Schools have been notable sites of measles exposure and disruption. For example, the recent South Carolina outbreak, from fall 2025 through spring 2026, affected 33 schools, 7 public school districts, and 874 students asked to quarantine. A recently published report found that 13 of these schools experienced two or three rounds of 21-day quarantines.
Because measles is an airborne virus, cleaner air is one of the tools that can help reduce spread in schools to protect health, attendance, and learning. But it is often overlooked by school leaders.
Measles in Schools: Indoor Air Quality as a Risk-Reduction Tool, a new School IAQ Brief from Clean Air Allies, aims to fill this gap. Relying heavily on CDC sources, it introduces indoor air quality as an important tool schools can use as part of a comprehensive, multilayered infection-prevention strategy. For context, it also draws on research published in BMC Infectious Diseases, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Science.
The brief complements Clean Air Allies’ Resource Summary of the CDC’s Guidance for Preventing Infections in K-12 Schools, which synthesizes CDC guidance on infection-prevention planning and implementation, including “taking steps for cleaner air” as an “everyday action.”
This is the first in a series of short, accessible, evidence-based School IAQ Briefs addressing different topics related to school indoor air quality.
