(JTA) — The number of people who have contracted measles in the Detroit area because of contact with a haredi Orthodox traveler has more than doubled in the past three weeks to 39.
All but one of the cases reported due to contact with the Israeli man known as “Michigan’s patient zero” are in Oakland County, The Washington Post reported Friday. The man was in the area fundraising for a Brooklyn-based charity.
The number on March 26, when the Detroit Jewish News reported the outbreak, was 18.
The Israeli had visited synagogues, businesses and yeshivas before the Purim holiday after arriving from New York, where there is a measles outbreak in some Orthodox Jewish communities.