Pennsylvania measles cases pass 1,000, largest state outbreak in decades

Pennsylvania has reported 1,004 measles cases so far this year, the state Department of Health said in its Monday update, including at least 198 hospitalizations and five deaths. State health officials say the total makes it the largest outbreak in any U.S. state in more than three decades, according to an Associated Press report carried by The Seattle Times and to The Guardian US. ABC News cited department data for the count, and Reuters reported the same total. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

The department data reported by ABC News gives the deaths: two were unvaccinated adults aged 18 and 40, and two were infants too young to have received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The fifth was an unvaccinated Lancaster County resident whose age ABC News said was unclear. Lancaster County, where The Guardian noted sizeable Amish and Mennonite populations, is the outbreak's center with 391 confirmed cases, and fewer than 1% of the state's cases are among people fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine, according to the department. [ 1 , 5 ]

New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, declared a state of emergency on Monday, citing 108 cases in the state as of 3 October, The Guardian reported. AP described the order as covering measles cases in neighboring states and rural New York, extending the pool of people who can administer vaccines to include paramedics and midwives and allowing nurses to join doctors in ordering testing; the state has more than 100 cases this year. [ 2 , 5 ]

The Guardian reported that Pennsylvania's figures are not included in the CDC's count because of an ongoing dispute between Governor Josh Shapiro and U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr over how to classify measles-related mortality. Shapiro has called Kennedy “incompetent”, The Guardian said, and Kennedy has publicly questioned whether the state's recorded fatalities were directly caused by measles; the CDC, which Kennedy oversees, currently lists two measles deaths in the U.S. this year. The Guardian is alone among the documents in reporting the dispute. [ 5 ]

Nationally, AP reported the U.S. is experiencing its worst measles year since 1991, with nearly 3,900 cases according to the CDC, and that health experts attribute outbreaks to low vaccination rates, which have fallen below the 95% coverage needed to prevent spread. International health officials will meet in November to determine whether the U.S. and Mexico have lost measles-free status, AP said. The Hill, citing CDC data, put South Carolina second with 670 cases, while AP said South Carolina previously had the largest outbreak with 997 cases reported; Ohio has reported more than 200 cases this year, The Guardian said. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 ]

The Hill reported that about a third of Pennsylvania's cases are in people under 18, that the state's kindergarten MMR coverage was an estimated 92.7% in the 2025-26 school year, and that roughly 8,800 MMR doses have been administered by state health department staff this year. After the fifth death was confirmed last week, the CDC told ABC News it was “deeply saddened” and said it had not received a formal Epi-Aid request from Pennsylvania but stood ready to deploy epidemiologists to support the state's identified needs if asked. [ 1 , 6 ]