---
title: "Three measles deaths in Washington’s count, five in Pennsylvania’s, and the world watching"
description: "America’s largest outbreak since measles was declared eliminated in 2000 has split the death toll and puts its neighbours at risk"
author: "Jan Sokol"
published: 2026-10-22T21:02:30Z
modified: 2026-10-23T02:44:04Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/three-measles-deaths-in-washington-s-count-five-in-pennsylva-3a387f
language: en
tags: ["health", "measles", "vaccines", "pennsylvania", "immunization", "us"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Three measles deaths in Washington’s count, five in Pennsylvania’s, and the world watching

*America’s largest outbreak since measles was declared eliminated in 2000 has split the death toll and puts its neighbours at risk*

By Jan Sokol · October 22, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/three-measles-deaths-in-washington-s-count-five-in-pennsylva-3a387f

## In brief

- The CDC confirmed a third US measles-related death of 2026 on October 20 without naming the states involved
- Pennsylvania has confirmed five measles deaths, and a coroner has reported a sixth; the state accuses the CDC of undercounting
- Pennsylvania has had more than 1,200 cases, over 240 hospitalisations and infections in 42 counties this year
- US kindergarten vaccination coverage fell from 95.2% in 2019–20 to 92.4% in 2025–26
- The US may lose measles elimination status this year; Canada lost its status last year to a strain linked to US communities

On October 20 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [confirmed the country’s third measles-related death](https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-10-20/us-cdc-confirms-third-measles-related-deaths-in-2026) of 2026. It did not say in which states the three had died.

In Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania health department keeps a different book. That one state has confirmed five measles deaths this year, [CNN reported](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/21/health/measles-pennsylvania-undercount-cdc), and the Franklin County coroner has reported a sixth. Two of the dead were unvaccinated adults, aged 18 and 40. Two were infants, too young to have had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The fifth was an unvaccinated resident of Lancaster County whose age has not been released.

Three in the nation. Five in one state.

According to CNN, the gap comes from a policy change under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: the CDC now tracks measles deaths through mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics instead of relying on figures from state health departments. Its dashboard says the number is “subject to change” and that the agency is working on a standard case definition for a measles death. Pennsylvania’s health secretary, Bogen, accepted the federal Epi-Aid team the CDC promised on October 13. She did not accept its arithmetic. “By not acknowledging the deaths, the CDC obscures the seriousness of this disease and the toll of measles across the U.S.,” she wrote. The question of whether America is [losing count of its measles dead](https://rews.cc/a/america-is-losing-count-of-its-measles-deaths-ea893d) has now become a dispute between a state and the federal government.

![Three cream-colored rounded tiles hang from a brass rod between gold posts, while a dark blue cover conceals two more tiles on a teal background.](https://rews.cc/img/b8caf3ea5926b69610a367b1fc5a2dcb7ae54d97.webp)

A reflection, nothing more: a government tends to trust the number that suits it, and it can take a long time for that number to match the graves.

## The luxury to forget

[Writing for Al Jazeera](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/22/why-measles-outbreak-in-pennsylvania-poses-risks-beyond-us-borders), Catherine Nouhan describes this as the largest US outbreak since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. Pennsylvania alone has had more than 1,200 cases this year, over 240 people in hospital, and infections in 42 counties. In early October the count [passed 1,000](https://rews.cc/a/pennsylvania-s-measles-outbreak-passes-1-000-cases-the-worst-ec36a7). In September the state asked the CDC for emergency help. On October 19 it warned doctors about [congenital measles](https://rews.cc/a/pennsylvania-warns-doctors-of-congenital-measles-a-disease-t-fa4de6), passed from mother to newborn, a disease it had not seen in decades.

Matt Ferrari, director of Penn State’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, said the country had been so successful at wiping out the disease that it had “the luxury to forget” how serious it was. Victory had made people careless. Once, he said, the vaccinated communities around a susceptible group “offered a barrier.” That barrier has thinned. US kindergarten vaccination coverage has fallen from 95.2 percent in the 2019–20 school year to 92.4 percent in 2025–26.

![White dominoes form a circle on a blue surface, with one leaning beside a trail of red balls passing through a gap.](https://rews.cc/img/13df66637f8e606ca69384a85253cce4c809b12e.webp)

## Ephrata

Lancaster County is home to the nation’s oldest Amish and Mennonite communities, and many people there are under-vaccinated. Two students caught measles at Ephrata Mennonite School. Its principal, Joshua Good, helped set up a pop-up vaccine clinic. Good was frank about the cause: families had not been short of access to vaccines, but had declined them “based on their own best judgement.” Vaccination there is still below the threshold for herd immunity.

Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University argued that the work has to start before the emergency, so that communities “see public health as a resource rather than law enforcement.” The distinction matters. People who meet the state only when it arrives with orders learn to see it as a kind of police, and they will keep their distance from it even when it comes carrying a syringe.

## A border the virus does not see

The outbreak has not stayed in Pennsylvania. On October 5, New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a [state disaster emergency](https://rews.cc/a/new-york-declares-a-measles-disaster-the-first-state-to-do-s-bc513d) and widened the list of people allowed to vaccinate and test. “No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease,” she said.

![A cream-colored vintage suitcase with red speckles, brass latches, and a curved handle stands against a blue background.](https://rews.cc/img/a590713626be82c9dfa2c0ada4263298ef1ead13.webp)

The stakes reach further than state lines. In 2016 the Americas became the first World Health Organization region to eliminate endemic measles. The Pan American Health Organization says coverage across the region is still below target for both doses. A country loses its elimination status after 12 months of continuous circulation of the same genotype. Canada lost its status last year, and its outbreak strain was genetically linked to Mennonite communities in the United States. The US may lose its own status this year.

Dr Daniel Salas of PAHO said Mexico and Bolivia will also be “closely assessed.” His advice was simple: respond within three days of a suspected case, without waiting for a laboratory to confirm it.

Kennedy sees things differently. He has said the US is doing “a better job than any country in the world,” and pointed to higher case numbers in Mexico, Canada and Britain. Nuzzo disagreed. “We have not seen it this bad,” she said, and warned that “the spread of measles in the United States imperils other countries.”

Canada already knows the strain’s family tree. It leads back to Pennsylvania.