FACTS
US measles cases reached 5,412 this year as of Nov. 12, up 230 from the previous weekly update, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday, Nov. 13, according to Reuters. The CDC has confirmed six measles-associated deaths in 2026. U.S. case totals have passed 5,000 for the first time since 1991, Reuters reported.
What the latest US measles cases count shows
The CDC has counted 591 measles-related hospitalizations so far this year, Reuters reported. The hospitalization rate is 11%, the same as the prior week and as in 2025, and 96% of cases were in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, according to CIDRAP, the University of Minnesota’s infectious disease news service.
This was the 14th consecutive week in which the national count rose by more than 100 cases, CIDRAP reported. ABC News reported that the cases are spread across 45 states.
The CDC updates its national count weekly, with figures reflecting confirmed cases reported to the agency by noon on Thursday, according to the CDC. The agency notes that state totals may differ from its own because states publish on different schedules.
Deaths reported by the CDC and states
The CDC’s count of six deaths is “subject to change,” and the agency does not say which states they occurred in, CIDRAP and Reuters reported. CIDRAP said at least four of this year’s measles deaths were children.
States have reported more deaths than the CDC’s current total. ABC News, in a report carried by Yahoo News, counted 10 deaths from state reports: seven in Pennsylvania, two in Wisconsin and one in New York.
New deaths were reported Friday in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to ABC News. In Wisconsin, a child died in Grant County, in the southwestern corner of the state, CIDRAP reported. That followed the death of a baby in Wisconsin the week before. In Pennsylvania, an unvaccinated resident of Montour County who tested positive for measles died, which CIDRAP described as the state’s seventh measles death this year.
Where the largest outbreaks are
Pennsylvania has reported 1,542 cases in 2026, the most of any state, including 61 new cases this week, CIDRAP reported, citing state figures. State epidemiologist Lisa McHugh told CIDRAP the outbreak there appears to be slowing. “We’re hoping that continues,” she said. About 56,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine were given in Pennsylvania in September and 61,000 in October, compared with a usual monthly average of about 25,000, according to CIDRAP.
Wisconsin added 174 cases this week, the most of any state, bringing its total to 651, with more than a third from Grant County, CIDRAP reported. Ohio has reported 372 cases, Indiana 171 and Minnesota 160, according to CIDRAP.
How 2026 compares with past years
The CDC recorded 2,289 confirmed measles cases in all of 2025, 285 in 2024 and 59 in 2023, according to the agency’s data page. In 2019, the CDC counted 1,274 cases. From 2000 through 2024, the U.S. averaged 180 cases a year, ABC News reported.
The share of kindergartners who received the MMR vaccine fell from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025-2026, according to the CDC, which says that leaves about 280,000 kindergartners at risk. ABC News reported that herd immunity against measles typically requires about 95% coverage.
Dr. Thomas Lew of Stanford University School of Medicine told Reuters the six deaths from a preventable disease are “a travesty of our public health system.”
Measles elimination status under review
An expert commission of the Pan American Health Organization is expected to decide within days whether the United States keeps its measles elimination status, Reuters reported. CIDRAP reported that the commission is also reviewing Mexico’s status, with a decision expected Nov. 17.
More coverage is in the Stay Current News Health section.
Photo: File photo of a measles virus particle under an electron microscope. CDC / Cynthia S. Goldsmith / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
