New York Declares Emergency To Address Rising Measles Cases

[Ashley Blachford]

Because of rising measles cases, New York’s governor this week declared a State Disaster Emergency, which will remain in effect through November 4, 2026, according to a press release. This is a public-health response measure designed to expand vaccination, testing, surveillance, and outbreak-control capacity. The action specifically extends the pool of eligible individuals who can administer measles-mumps-rubella vaccines and allows nurses to order testing rather than requiring the order to come from a physician or other normally authorized prescriber. According to the new state measles dashboard, New York recorded 102 confirmed measles cases for the year through October 3. The more concerning development is the acceleration of case counts: 93 of these cases have occurred since August 1. For comparison, other weeks throughout the year have had either no cases or just 1 case reported.

Regional concerns: Neighboring Pennsylvania is also experiencing a large outbreak, which New York has cited as part of its concern. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,004 cases across 39 counties as of October 5. At least 198 people have been hospitalized, and 5 measles-associated deaths have been reported in Pennsylvania.


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