Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak has reached 943 confirmed cases in 39 counties, and the state Department of Health confirmed a fifth measles-associated death on Sept. 30. The person, a Lancaster County resident, was unvaccinated, the department said in its announcement.
Of the 943 cases, 176 people have been hospitalized, the department said. Only four cases, or 0.4%, occurred in people who had been vaccinated, according to the department. State officials did not release identifying details about the person who died, citing privacy laws, according to a Tribune News Service story in the Spokesman-Review.
How fast the Pennsylvania measles outbreak is growing
The outbreak began in late April. On Sept. 15, when the health department confirmed two more deaths, it counted 693 cases in 38 counties, according to that earlier release. The new total is 250 cases higher, in 15 days.
That works out to about 17 new cases a day. From late April to Sept. 15, a span of roughly 138 days, the same outbreak averaged about five a day. The recent pace is more than triple the earlier average. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s story, carried by the Spokesman-Review, said the state added 40 cases in just two days.
Lancaster County has nearly 400 of the cases, and Chester County, in the Philadelphia suburbs, has 83, according to the Inquirer story. About one-third of patients are children younger than 18, the story said. Nearly one in five cases has required hospitalization, a share the health department puts at about 20%. The 176 hospitalizations are 18.7% of 943. The state said it is the largest Pennsylvania outbreak in 30 years. The Inquirer reported that it is also the largest of any state this year.
Where Pennsylvania’s five measles deaths occurred
Two of the deaths were reported Aug. 25 in Lancaster County, and two more were announced Sept. 15 in Jefferson and Mifflin counties. The fifth is another Lancaster County resident. The department said both people whose deaths it announced Sept. 15 were unvaccinated, as was the latest. The state counts a death as measles-associated when it happens within 30 days of symptom onset in a person with clinical and laboratory evidence of measles, and when unrelated causes are ruled out, the Inquirer reported.
The deaths have not been limited to children. The Inquirer reported that the Mifflin County patient was an 18-year-old who died of a rare neurological complication, and that the Jefferson County patient was a 40-year-old woman with serious respiratory problems. Those two cases show the range of ways measles can kill, from the brain to the lungs, in people far from the youngest age group.
Five deaths among 943 cases is 5.3 deaths per 1,000 cases. The health department’s own release says measles kills one to three of every 1,000 patients. Pennsylvania’s figure is above that range, though five deaths is a small number, and the outbreak is still growing, so more people who are sick now could still die or recover. CNN, in a story carried by KRDO, said that death rate also suggests the real number of cases may exceed those confirmed. Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni told CNN that measles tends to “get worse over the fall and winter months.”
What the CDC count shows
The federal count has not kept up with the state’s. The CDC’s measles page listed 3,659 confirmed U.S. cases as of Sept. 24, in 47 jurisdictions, and reported two deaths nationally in 2026. The agency labels that number as subject to change pending review. Pennsylvania reports five.
The two sets of numbers come from different dates, since Pennsylvania’s 943 is a Sept. 30 figure and the CDC’s total runs through Sept. 24. Even so, Pennsylvania accounts for roughly one in four U.S. cases this year. CNN reported that the U.S. total is nearly 3,700 and the highest since 1991.
The disagreement over deaths is not new. The Inquirer reported that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. initially suggested Pennsylvania may have fabricated some deaths. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, accused Kennedy of spreading vaccine misinformation. The CDC dashboard still omits Pennsylvania’s documented deaths, the Inquirer said.
The national total includes 3,642 cases among residents of the 47 jurisdictions and 17 among international visitors, the CDC said. The 53,000 doses given in September, in a month when the state would typically give fewer than 26,500, show how quickly families responded once deaths were reported.
The CDC said 95% of this year’s confirmed cases, 3,478 of 3,659, are tied to outbreaks, and 40 new outbreaks have been reported in 2026. In all of 2025, the agency counted 2,289 cases and 48 outbreaks.
Vaccination in Pennsylvania doubled in September
The health department said providers statewide gave more than 53,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in September, more than twice a typical month. That is about 1,800 doses a day. State health centers also ran 180 pop-up clinics in affected communities and gave more than 5,500 doses at them since late April, with more clinics planned.
The department said two doses are “97 percent effective” at preventing measles for life. CNN reported that one dose is 93% effective. The rise in vaccination comes as national coverage has slipped. The CDC said kindergarten vaccination coverage fell from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025-2026.
Measles is airborne. The department said the virus can stay infectious in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a room. The department tells people who develop symptoms after an exposure to contact a health care provider or call its hotline at 877-724-3258. The department’s measles page lists where to get the vaccine, including pediatric offices, pharmacies, county health departments and the state’s 59 health centers. The state said no-cost options exist for eligible children through Medicaid and for those who are uninsured.
