--- title: "New York Declares a Measles Disaster, the First State to Do So Since the 2025 Surge" description: "Hochul’s order lets pharmacists and nurses do more against 108 cases as Pennsylvania’s outbreak, next door, passes 1,000" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-10-06T00:00:36Z modified: 2026-10-06T01:22:13Z url: https://rews.cc/a/new-york-declares-a-measles-disaster-the-first-state-to-do-s-bc513d language: en tags: ["health", "measles", "vaccines", "trump", "cdc", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # New York Declares a Measles Disaster, the First State to Do So Since the 2025 Surge *Hochul’s order lets pharmacists and nurses do more against 108 cases as Pennsylvania’s outbreak, next door, passes 1,000* By Jan Sokol · October 6, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/new-york-declares-a-measles-disaster-the-first-state-to-do-s-bc513d ## In brief - Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide measles disaster emergency on Oct 5, the first by a US state since the 2025 surge - New York had 108 cases through Oct 3, including 92 since July 15 in under-immunized rural areas across 18 counties - The order lets nurses order tests and pharmacists vaccinate children from age two; it runs through Nov 4 - Pennsylvania’s outbreak passed 1,000 cases with five deaths, the largest state outbreak in over three decades - The CDC counts nearly 3,900 US cases this year, the worst year for measles since 1991 The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000. Twenty-six years later the disease is named in a disaster order. On Monday, October 5, Governor Kathy Hochul declared a statewide disaster emergency in New York over a measles outbreak. Reuters reported that no US state had made such a declaration since cases began to surge in 2025. “After reviewing the latest data on measles cases in New York State, I am declaring a State Disaster Emergency to strengthen our ongoing efforts to confront this disease,” the governor said, [according to WXXI News](https://www.wxxinews.org/2026-10-05/hochul-declares-state-disaster-emergency-as-ny-surpasses-100-measles-cases-this-year). ## The arithmetic of an emergency The executive order gives its own figures. New York has recorded 108 measles cases this year through October 3. Ninety-two of them have come since July 15, in rural communities across 18 counties where too few people are immunised. The governor’s office said seven cases are in New York City and 101 elsewhere in the state. Local news outlets, citing the state’s measles dashboard, list Otsego County with 20 cases, Seneca with 17 and Steuben with 14. Since mid-July, local health departments have given more than 1,000 doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in rural areas. A hundred and eight cases may not sound like a disaster. The comparison that matters is with the recent past. In the quarter century after elimination, federal data show, the whole country averaged about 180 cases a year. The order says this year’s count has “markedly increased beyond the typical number of measles cases reported in New York State, particularly since July 15.” ## Who may hold the needle A disaster declaration lets the state suspend some of its own rules, and this order relaxes the ones about who may test and who may vaccinate. Registered nurses can now order tests for suspected measles. Pharmacists can vaccinate children as young as two. Local reporting, [including Spectrum News](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2026/10/05/hochul-declares-emergency-over-measles-outbreak), says paramedics, advanced EMS providers and midwives have also been added to the list of people allowed to give the shot. Every MMR vaccination must be reported to the state or New York City immunisation registry within 72 hours, and adults’ consent for that reporting is waived. The order stops short of compelling anyone. Vaccination itself still requires the consent of the patient or a legal guardian. The emergency took effect on Monday and runs through November 4. ## Across the state line The worst of it is to the south. The order describes Pennsylvania as fighting a fast-spreading outbreak, with 977 cases and five deaths as of October 2, mostly in rural counties along the New York border. Pennsylvania’s figures changed again on the day the order was signed. State health officials said on Monday that the total had passed 1,000. [ABC News reported](https://abcnews.com/Health/measles-cases-surpass-1000-pennsylvania-outbreak-continues-spread/story?id=137002024) the department’s update as 1,004 cases in 39 counties, with 198 hospitalisations and five measles-associated deaths. It is the largest state outbreak in more than three decades, and rews has followed [the deaths as they were reported](https://rews.cc/a/pennsylvania-measles-cases-rise-above-900-as-deaths-reach-fo-89c673). According to the [Associated Press, via Spotlight PA](https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/10/pennsylvania-measles-outbreak-decades-health/), Lancaster County is the centre of the outbreak, and some of the hardest-hit counties have large Amish populations, where vaccination rates tend to be lower. The AP also noted that the last outbreak this large was in New York City in the early 1990s, when more than 4,500 people were infected over several years. For a generation the disease was almost absent from the state. It has now come back to New York from Pennsylvania. ## A national count The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts this year’s national total at nearly 3,900 cases, making 2026 the worst year for measles since 1991. ABC News gave the CDC’s count as 3,887 confirmed cases as of October 1. New York’s outbreak is far from the largest of the past two years. West Texas had at least 762 cases linked to its outbreak last year. South Carolina’s came close to 1,000 cases before it was declared over in April; [the Philadelphia Inquirer](https://www.inquirer.com/health/pennsylvania-measles-outbreak-one-thousand-cases-20261005.html) puts that outbreak at 997 cases across this year and last. Official tallies may also undercount the toll, as an earlier rews report on [the counting of measles deaths](https://rews.cc/a/america-is-losing-count-of-its-measles-deaths-ea893d) found. On the same Monday, Westfair Communications reported, New York Attorney General Letitia James [joined a coalition of 15 states](https://westfaironline.com/disease/hochul-declares-measles-emergency/) seeking to overturn recent changes to the country’s vaccine policy. So one arm of the state government was widening access to the vaccine while another went to court over federal vaccine policy. Something else may be on the way. A cleared rash does not always mean full recovery; measles can [erase the immune system’s memory](https://rews.cc/a/measles-erases-immune-memory-leaving-survivors-vulnerable-to-018ef6) of earlier infections. In November, according to ABC News, international health officials are expected to meet to consider whether the United States and Mexico have lost their measles-elimination status. That leaves the 2000 declaration open to review. New York’s emergency order is due to expire the same month. ## Sources - [New York state declares measles disaster amid US resurgence](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/6/new-york-state-declares-measles-disaster-amid-resurgence-of-disease-in-us) — aljazeera.com - [New York declares first US measles disaster emergency since 2025 surge](https://cnn.com/2026/10/05/health/new-york-declares-first-us-measles-disaster-emergency-since-2025-surge) — cnn.com