The U.S. is on track for its worst measles year since 1991. The CDC had confirmed 3,887 cases across 47 jurisdictions as of Oct. 1, up 228 from the previous week and far above the 2,289 cases in all of 2025. The 2026 total passed last year’s in July. The CDC says 95% of cases are outbreak-associated, including 42 new outbreaks reported this year and cases from outbreaks that began in 2025, and 95% of patients were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. About 9% have been hospitalized. The CDC has confirmed two deaths, though Pennsylvania alone has reported five.
Two decisions loom. The CDC says it is still investigating reported deaths, and it has raised its official count to two while states report more. And the Pan American Health Organization is scheduled to review the U.S.’s measles elimination status at its annual meeting in November, a decision postponed from April.
The outbreaks are at very different stages. Here’s where the major ones stand.
Pennsylvania: The state has the most cases in the country this year, and its total has passed South Carolina’s. Pennsylvania confirmed 1,004 cases across 39 counties as of Oct. 5, with 198 hospitalizations and five deaths. Lancaster County had 391 cases, followed by Mifflin County with 117 and Chester County with 83. The outbreak began in late April, and the state reported the first two deaths, both unvaccinated Lancaster County residents, in August. Deaths in Jefferson County, Mifflin County and a third in Lancaster County followed. MMR vaccinations have surged, with providers giving more than 53,000 doses in September, more than double a typical month, according to the state health department.
South Carolina: The state’s outbreak centered in Spartanburg County began in October 2025, reached 997 cases and was declared over April 27 after 42 days with no new cases. It was the largest single outbreak since measles was eliminated in 2000, according to Reuters. The response cost the state an estimated $2.1 million, and more than 81,000 MMR doses were given statewide from October through March, a 31% increase over the same period a year earlier.
Utah and Arizona: Utah’s outbreak began in June 2025. The state has diagnosed 724 residents in the outbreak, including 527 this year and 197 in 2025, and reports none in the last three weeks. In Arizona, an outbreak centered on Colorado City in Mohave County began in August 2025, when county and state health officials confirmed the first case along the Utah border. The state declared it over in June after nearly 300 cases. Arizona has reported 110 cases in 2026, down from 222 last year.
Texas, Virginia and Florida: Texas, which had the nation’s largest outbreak last year and 803 cases in all, has dropped to 192 in 2026. Virginia has reported 178 cases this year, up from six in 2025, and its count has been unchanged since mid-September. Florida has reported 148, up from eight last year.
Wisconsin, Ohio and Kentucky: These states are where cases are still climbing. Wisconsin’s health department has confirmed 258 cases this year as of Oct. 6. Most are in an outbreak in Grant, Iowa, Lafayette and Vernon counties in the southwest, which stood at 234 confirmed and six probable cases and where officials say measles is spreading locally. Ohio’s health department reported 206 cases as of its latest weekly update, and it declared its third outbreak of the year July 30 in Ashtabula and Tuscarawas counties. Kentucky has 94 cases this year, 90 of them in an outbreak concentrated in western Kentucky’s Christian and Trigg counties, nearly all in people who are unvaccinated or whose status isn’t recorded.
Maryland and Delaware: Maryland had confirmed 40 cases in 2026 as of Sept. 16, after the state declared an outbreak Aug. 24 in St. Mary’s, Carroll and Cecil counties. Delaware declared an outbreak July 22 after confirming four cases in Kent County, and its first case, confirmed July 20, was the state’s first in more than a decade.
New York: The state had 108 cases as of Oct. 3, with 92 reported since July 15 among under-immunized rural communities in 18 counties. Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency Oct. 5 that expands who can give measles vaccines to include pharmacists, paramedics, advanced EMS providers and midwives, and lets nurses order testing.
