REVISED: Why would the health department send me a certified letter?

Even when we know we have not violated the law, ignored the IRS, or personally placed our health at risk, receiving an unexpected certified letter will definitely make the heart beat faster.

With the current measles outbreak in many states and the mentioned age of your child, it is possible the letter refers to this medical situation and the need to have your child vaccinated or checked by a physician. The first shot of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine should be given when a child is between 12-15 months old, with the second shot of the MMR vaccine not given until the child is between 4-6 years of age.

You have two options; sign and collect the letter, or do not collect the letter, and let the Post Office return the mail piece to the sender. The purpose of a certified mail piece is to provide the sender (Ch****** County Health Department) with a mailing receipt showing the letter was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made. In other words, the sender did try to contact the recipient which is you in this case.

It could be as simple as "This is a follow-up about your recent childbirth, we had an error with our lab, and you may want to get retested" or "You had a child recently, as you may know there have been some outbreaks of measels recently, and as a recent mother, you should be aware of the available vaccines that could save the life of your child" or some other such thing.

So don't freak out. Relax. It's not like anything they would send you is going to immediately put you at risk of death.

So, go get the letter and figure out what it's about. It could be literally anything, from a reminder to get your child immunized to discovery of problematic test results. Why panic about something you haven't even read yet?

Immunization is the likeliest answer, with the recent outbreaks of measles. Have you had your child vaccinated? The first dose is at 12 months, I believe.