CDC Counts 5,182 U.S. Measles Cases in 2026, Highest Since 1991, With At Least Eight Deaths

Since Wisconsin and New York announced measles deaths this week, the national count has crossed a threshold: the CDC's update released Friday, Nov. 6, lists 5,182 confirmed cases in 2026.

That is more than double the 2,289 cases recorded in all of 2025, which was itself the worst year in recent history. It is the highest total the CDC has logged since 1991, when the U.S. recorded 9,643 cases. In 1990 the figure was 27,808.

How fast the count grew

The 2026 total passed all of 2025 by mid-July. By early November it had topped 5,000. A tally of 4,852 cases was circulating earlier this week, so the CDC's number has climbed by several hundred in a matter of days.

For context, the 2024 total was 285 cases. The pre-2025 recent high was 1,274 in 2019, driven by outbreaks in New York, California and Washington state. More than 750 of last year's cases came from a single West Texas outbreak that killed two children.

The deaths

State health officials have reported at least eight measles-related deaths this year, including very young children. Pennsylvania has confirmed six, starting with two in Lancaster County in August, its first in 35 years. Both of those people were unvaccinated, state officials said. A seventh reported by the Franklin County coroner has not been confirmed by the state.

New York reported the death of a 7-month-old from upstate Lewis County, the state's first measles death in three decades. The infant was too young to receive a first MMR dose.

Wisconsin announced on Thursday, Nov. 5, the death of an infant in the southwestern outbreak, the state's first since 1990. The coroner declared the immediate cause of death to be measles. The state health department will release nothing more, citing family privacy.

"Any death of a child is a tragedy and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease," said Kirsten Johnson, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

The vaccination gap

Wisconsin has reported 431 cases in 13 counties as of Nov. 3, the most in the state in over 35 years. Nine people have been hospitalized. The department says about 95% of cases were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. Two percent had one MMR dose and another 2% had two. Officials also say the real total is likely higher, because not everyone who gets sick is tested.

Since Aug. 1, healthcare providers in Wisconsin have given more than 42,000 doses of MMR vaccine. Two doses are about 97% effective against measles.

Nationally, the CDC says 92.4% of kindergartners got their MMR shots in the 2025-2026 school year, down from 92.5% the year before and 95.2% in 2019-2020. The CDC states that community protection generally requires more than 95%. Only 10 states reached that level last year.

Idaho had the lowest kindergarten rate at 75.2%, followed by Wisconsin at 85.1%. Utah (87.2%), Arizona (87.4%) and Colorado (87.7%) also sat well under the national figure.

In New York outside New York City, cases rose from 15 in 2024 to 48 in 2025 to 210 this year, mostly in rural upstate counties. Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of public health and epidemiology at Northwell Health, said Long Island has had only sporadic cases and "there's no alarm for the public." He credited school-entry requirements with strict exemption rules and warned that "minor changes in vaccination rates can lead to outbreaks."

Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Medicine, said of the infant death: "we don't start with finger-pointing."

Washington and the elimination question

The U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000. The ongoing outbreaks put that status at risk.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is accused by critics of fanning public distrust of vaccines. He is known for vaccine skepticism, and the accusation includes claims that he has spread misinformation about the measles vaccine and downplayed the disease. Kennedy's own response to that accusation is not part of this count's release.

Another Trump administration official has taken a different line. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on "Face the Nation" that it is "very important that parents vaccinate their kids" with the standard childhood vaccines, including for measles. Research has found no evidence of higher autism rates among vaccinated children.

Federal and state tallies may differ on which deaths count as measles-related, and the Franklin County death remains unconfirmed by Pennsylvania. If it is confirmed, the national toll rises above eight.