US outbreak statistics
New York health officials announced a child died of measles late Monday. This death marks the first measles-related death in New York in over 30 years, and the case is the seventh measles-linked death in the US this year. All six previous deaths occurred in Pennsylvania, where a measles outbreak has affected more than 1,430 people. Pennsylvania had not seen a measles death in 35 years before this outbreak. This 2026 tally of over 4,850 cases across 47 jurisdictions is more than double the total from all of 2025, which had 2,289 cases and three deaths. This year’s tally is also the largest the country has seen since 1991, and at least 511 people have been hospitalized.
| US Measles Statistic | 2026 Figures | 2025 Figures |
|---|---|---|
| Total Cases | Over 4,850 | 2,289 |
| Total Deaths | 7 | 3 |
| Hospitalizations | Over 511 | Not specified |
Case details and agency delays
New York reported 170 measles cases in over a dozen counties. New York has not released the age of the child who died or any other details about the case. The six deaths in Pennsylvania included a newborn with congenital measles, a 6-week-old too young for vaccination, a "perfectly healthy" 18-year-old, a 20-year-old with leukemia, a 40-year-old with underlying conditions, and a 39-year-old with underlying conditions. All six individuals in Pennsylvania were unvaccinated. The Franklin County coroner reported a sixth death on October 12, but the Pennsylvania health department currently reports only five deaths while investigating that case. A Franklin County judge ordered that information about this death be sealed from public review, while The Philadelphia Inquirer took legal action to obtain certain death record details. Pennsylvania health officials released their own alert on measles in pregnancy and congenital measles on October 19.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the child’s death "a devastating reminder of what’s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses." She linked the death to the anti-vaccine activism of US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Washington Post reported that the CDC Director’s Office blocked career scientists from publishing an urgent health alert to clinicians regarding the specific risks and management of measles cases during pregnancy. Scientists now attempt to publish this information in The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, but the peer-review process takes longer than an advisory. Kennedy also ordered the CDC to delete some early deaths and changed how the agency counts deaths by relying on federal records instead of state reports. This new counting method fails to capture the real-time data needed to respond to an active outbreak. Because the CDC Director’s Office blocked the alert, scientists are now considering publishing the information outside the agency to avoid onerous clearance. Kennedy and his organization, Children’s Health Defense, have been prolific sources of anti-vaccine content.
