Campus Alert Archive
UCLA

Disease outbreak, April 25, 2019

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Confirmed Threat

On April 25, 2019, UCLA announced that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health had confirmed a UCLA student contracted measles and attended classes in Franz Hall and Boelter Hall on April 2, 4, and 9 while contagious. The university notified more than 500 students, faculty, and staff who might have been exposed; LACDPH quarantined 119 students and 8 faculty members who could not immediately prove measles immunity until their records could be verified.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
University of California, Los Angeles
Public R1 · CA
All UCLA cases →
~45,000 studentsBruinAlert
Official alert policy
Read when and how UCLA says it will use BruinAlert: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Verified verbatimUCLA Newsroom: Protecting our campus after reported measles case2510 chars
On Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) notified UCLA that one of our students had contracted the measles. We were also informed that the student had attended classes at Franz Hall and Boelter Hall on three days — April 2, 4 and 9 — while contagious. The student did not enter any other buildings while on campus. I want to assure you that campus epidemiologists and top health experts have been working very closely with local public health officials to ensure that notifications are made and proper care is provided to all who might be affected. Upon learning of this incident, UCLA immediately identified and notified more than 500 students, faculty and staff with whom the student may have come into contact or who may have otherwise been exposed. They were also provided with detailed information about treatment and prevention. Most of those individuals have since been cleared, but we are still awaiting medical records from 119 students and eight faculty members to determine whether they are immune to the measles. As a result, LACDPH has decided to quarantine those individuals until their immunity is determined. We expect that those notified will be quarantined for approximately 24–48 hours until their proof of immunity is established. A few may need to remain in quarantine for up to seven days. We have arranged for those who live on campus to be cared for at UCLA while they are quarantined. Considering the time that has elapsed since the last possible exposure to the individual with measles on April 9, the highest risk period for developing measles has already passed — and the period during which symptoms may appear is nearing the end. I know there is concern about measles, particularly among the very small percentage of our community who have not been vaccinated. Please be assured that we have the resources we need for prevention and treatment, and that we are working very closely with local public health officials on the matter. For anyone who is concerned they may not have received the standard two-vaccine series, I strongly urge students to visit the Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center and faculty and staff to contact their medical providers. More information about measles and the vaccines can be found at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health website. Information is also available at Bruin Safe Online. Subscribe to a UCLA Newsroom RSS feed and our story headlines will be automatically delivered to your news reader.
The notice names two specific buildings and three specific exposure dates (April 2, 4, and 9, 2019), letting recipients self-assess their own risk window rather than triggering a campus-wide panic.
UCLA framed the action as driven by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which held the legal quarantine authority; the university's role was identifying and notifying potential contacts.
The instruction to call a provider before arriving in person is a measles-specific control measure: walking into a waiting room can expose others, since the virus lingers in the air for up to two hours.
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

On Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) notified UCLA that one of our students had contracted the measles. We were also informed that the student had attended classes at Franz Hall and Boelter Hall on three days — April 2, 4 and 9 — while contagious. The student did not enter any other buildings while on campus. I want to assure you that campus epidemiologists and top health experts have been working very closely with local public health officials to ensure that notifications are made and proper care is provided to all who might be affected. Upon learning of this incident, UCLA immediately identified and notified more than 500 students, faculty and staff with whom the student may have come into contact or who may have otherwise been exposed. They were also provided with detailed information about treatment and prevention. Most of those individuals have since been cleared, but we are still awaiting medical records from 119 students and eight faculty members to determine whether they are immune to the measles. As a result, LACDPH has decided to quarantine those individuals until their immunity is determined. We expect that those notified will be quarantined for approximately 24–48 hours until their proof of immunity is established. A few may need to remain in quarantine for up to seven days. We have arranged for those who live on campus to be cared for at UCLA while they are quarantined. Considering the time that has elapsed since the last possible exposure to the individual with measles on April 9, the highest risk period for developing measles has already passed — and the period during which symptoms may appear is nearing the end. I know there is concern about measles, particularly among the very small percentage of our community who have not been vaccinated. Please be assured that we have the resources we need for prevention and treatment, and that we are working very closely with local public health officials on the matter. For anyone who is concerned they may not have received the standard two-vaccine series, I strongly urge students to visit the Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center and faculty and staff to contact their medical providers. More information about measles and the vaccines can be found at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health website. Information is also available at Bruin Safe Online. Subscribe to a UCLA Newsroom RSS feed and our story headlines will be automatically delivered to your news reader.

  • Sourceabsent0/0

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

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  • Hazardabsent0/0

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

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  • Locationabsent0/0

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

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  • Guidanceabsent0/0

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

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  • Timeabsent0/0

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

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  • Impactabsent0/0

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

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Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

The April 2019 UCLA measles quarantine was one of the highest-profile US campus public-health responses of the pre-COVID era, coinciding with a national measles resurgence and a Los Angeles County outbreak. According to UCLA's own statement, an infected student attended classes in Franz Hall and Boelter Hall on three days in early April while contagious, prompting outreach to more than 500 potential contacts. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered 119 students and 8 faculty into quarantine because they could not promptly document measles immunity, while a parallel quarantine unfolded at Cal State LA. The episode illustrated how vaccination-record gaps, not the disease's reach alone, can drive the scale of a campus quarantine.
Analysis

Key Findings

Of more than 500 people contacted, only those who could not prove measles immunity (119 students, 8 faculty) were quarantined, showing how documentation gaps drive quarantine scale
UCLA named specific buildings and dates so recipients could self-assess exposure rather than alarming the entire campus
The county health department, not the university, held the legal quarantine authority; UCLA's role was contact identification and accommodation
The episode ran in parallel with a Cal State LA quarantine during the 2019 Los Angeles County measles surge
Outcome
Most of those quarantined were cleared within 24-48 hours once immunity was confirmed; UCLA arranged on-campus care for quarantined residents. The case was part of a wider Los Angeles County measles surge that also led to a quarantine at Cal State LA.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Protecting our campus after reported measles case - UCLA Newsroom
    newsroom.ucla.edu
    archived copy
  2. News
    Measles quarantine issued at two California universities - CNN
    cnn.com
    archived copy
  3. News
    Measles outbreak: Quarantines issued at UCLA, Cal State LA - ABC30
    abc30.com
    archived copy
  4. News
    UCLA, Cal State LA Quarantine Students Who Cannot Prove Vaccination - CBS Los Angeles
    cbsnews.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "University of California, Los Angeles: Disease outbreak, April 25, 2019." Incident of April 25, 2019. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/ucla-measles-quarantine-2019-04-25/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
measlesdisease-outbreakquarantinepublic-healthcaliforniavaccinationadvisory
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion