Officials confirmed Hawaiʻi’s first measles case in two years, underscoring the urgency of a health department campaign announced last week to get more children vaccinated for the highly contagious disease.

The measles patient is a child under 5 who recently returned to Oʻahu after traveling internationally. The child is unvaccinated and is not enrolled in a K-12 public school, said State Epidemiologist Sarah Kemble in a press conference on Tuesday. They are recovering at home.

The health department is currently reaching out to individuals who may have been infected and is identifying public areas where people may have been exposed to the virus over the past week, including certain parts of the Honolulu airport and an urgent care clinic in Kapahulu, said department director Kenneth Fink.

Fink said that measles rates have been rising nationally and globally.

“We should not be surprised to see other cases in Hawaii,” Fink said during Tuesday’s press conference.

Hawaiʻi currently has a 90% vaccination rate for measles, below the 95% threshold needed to protect unvaccinated individuals from the virus. The number of Hawaiʻi students opting out of state vaccine requirements by obtaining a religious exemption has increased by roughly 250% over the past decade.

Gov. Josh Green signed an emergency rule Tuesday allowing families with a religious exemption to get their children vaccinated for measles without losing their ability to skip other childhood immunizations.

DOH is also working with schools to host on-site vaccination clinics.

Nearly two dozen states have reported measles cases this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy and its community health coverage is supported by the Cooke Foundation, Atherton Family Foundation and Papa Ola Lokahi.