A child in rural northern New York has died after contracting measles, the state's first death from the disease in more than 30 years, officials announced on Monday (November 2).
The child died in Lewis County, about 150 km north of Syracuse, Governor Kathy Hochul said, according to The Hindu. The New York State Department of Health and Lewis County Public Health confirmed the death in a joint statement and asked that the family's privacy be respected, Spectrum News reported. No details about the child have been released.
Ms Hochul, a Democrat, called the death "a devastating reminder of what's at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses."
How big the outbreak is
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recorded 2,318 confirmed measles cases in the US since the start of 2026, The Hindu reported. The CDC has confirmed three measles-associated deaths this year, but state health departments have reported more: Pennsylvania alone has reported five and is investigating a sixth.
New York had recorded 178 cases as of October 24, all but eight of them upstate, state health officials said on Monday, according to Spectrum News. Ms Hochul declared a state disaster emergency on October 5 because of cases in neighbouring states and rural New York. The order lets paramedics, midwives and others give measles vaccines, and allows nurses as well as doctors to order tests.
Why it matters
The US stopped the domestic spread of measles in 2000 by keeping vaccination rates high. Those rates have since fallen below the 95% coverage needed to prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious viral disease, The Hindu reported.
State health officials have urged residents to make sure they are up to date on the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, especially before travelling to high-risk areas. New York has run a county-by-county measles database since September, updated every Tuesday.