'Dangerously' high measles cases in rural New York force governor to declare state of emergency

Measles cases have "increased dangerously" in rural New York, spurring Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a statewide public health emergency, Joseph Goldstein reports for The New York Times. As of Oct. 3, 108 measles cases had been reported in the state, the most since 2019, and most of those cases are in the rural Finger Lakes region. In counties with the most cases, fewer than 80% of children have been vaccinated by age 2. 

Houchul's declaration will make it easier for midwives, pharmacists and other health care workers to administer measles shots. Hochul said the declaration would "strengthen our ongoing efforts to confront this disease," and that "no one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease." 

Goldstein reports that the U.S. is facing a "resurgence in measles, driven by declining vaccination rates, with case counts soaring in 2026." There have been nearly 4,000 cases recorded in 2026 so far, "by far the highest in more than 30 years." He writes that South Carolina and Utah have been "especially hard hit," and that Pennsylvania has had more than 1,000 cases and five deaths from measles this year.

Measles is highly contagious, and can cause swelling in the brain that leads to blindness. Babies who are too young to be vaccinated are at high risk for the disease. Measles had been largely eradicated from the U.S. 25 years ago, but fears about the MMR vaccine causing autism have led to decreased vaccination rates, even though many scientific studies have debunked those claims.