The United States could lose the measles elimination status it has held since 2000 as soon as next week, as a Pan American Health Organization commission reviews whether the virus has circulated continuously in the country for a year. The CDC has counted 5,182 measles cases in 2026 as of Nov. 5, according to its measles data page
CDC Director Erica Schwartz said her agency will not change its approach if the country loses the status. The CDC’s own numbers show what that approach has produced so far this year.
How Measles Elimination Status Works
PAHO defines endemic measles as “uninterrupted circulation of the same virus genotype and lineage for 12 months or more,” according to its review process. PAHO dates the start of the U.S. outbreak chain to Jan. 20, 2025. By the commission’s review, that chain will be nearly 22 months old, a calculation from the onset date. The Americas as a region already lost elimination status in November 2025 because of Canada. PAHO’s independent commission makes recommendations to its director, Jarbas Barbosa.
What the CDC Measles Numbers Show
The CDC reports 5,182 confirmed cases in 47 jurisdictions this year, 43 outbreaks and four deaths. Ninety-six percent of cases are linked to outbreaks. The country had 2,289 cases in all of 2025 and 285 in 2024. This year’s count is already about 2.3 times 2025’s total and about 18 times 2024’s, a calculation from the CDC’s figures. Spread over the 309 days through Nov. 5, it comes to about 17 new cases a day. The U.S. also accounts for most of the region’s new cases. In weeks 41 and 42, it reported 332 of the 547 new cases in the Americas, about 61%, according to PAHO’s Nov. 6 situation report. The region has recorded 57,666 confirmed cases and 81 deaths this year.
What the CDC Director Said
Schwartz told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Nov. 10 that the agency’s work would continue unchanged. “We’re going to be doing the same exact thing that we’ve been doing today,” she said. She said the MMR vaccine is “the number one way to prevent measles” and pointed to outreach as the gap. “The real focus is why are we not leaning in on these close-knit communities,” Schwartz said.
The fair reading of her position is that a status label does not change how public health workers fight an outbreak, and that targeted outreach to undervaccinated communities is the right tool. The case counts show that the current pace of that work has not kept up with the virus. Schwartz told Reuters she expects a decision by early next week.
