Pennsylvania’s four deaths remain excluded from CDC’s national tally

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed a second measles death in the United States in 2026, even as the agency continues to leave four Pennsylvania fatalities out of its national count. The omission deepens an ongoing dispute between Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over how the country’s worst measles year since 1991 is being tallied.

The CDC reported 3,659 confirmed measles cases across 47 states as of 24 September, with both deaths confirmed on Tuesday. The agency did not specify in which states the two deaths occurred. The annual case total is the highest since 1991; the disease was declared eliminated by the US government in 2000.

Pennsylvania remains the hardest-hit state, with more than 900 reported cases and four deaths from measles. The state health department reported 114 new cases in the past seven days — about a third involving children under 18 — along with 176 hospitalizations statewide. Less than 1 percent of Pennsylvania’s cases involve people who were fully vaccinated against the disease. Pennsylvania’s health department said that “while daily numbers fluctuate, tracking these trends provides Pennsylvanians and health care providers with visibility into community transmission across the [state] and helps inform the department’s ongoing response.”

The CDC’s decision not to include Pennsylvania’s deaths in its national count stems from a methodological shift. The agency has moved from collecting case and death data directly from states to using mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The change sits at the center of the dispute between Shapiro and Kennedy.

The CDC has faced dramatic workforce reductions under the Trump administration, with the agency laying off 18 percent of its staff in 2025. According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union representing 82,000 workers, there are 3,810 fewer civil service employees within the CDC than a year ago — a total reduction of a third.

The CDC advises that two doses of the MMR vaccine “provide the best protection against measles.” Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious health complications, and although rare, kills approximately one to three patients per 1,000 cases, according to the agency. Symptoms typically begin seven to 14 days after infection and can include high fever, cough, runny nose, and red watery eyes, followed by a rash that spreads down the body.