Weekly measles cases top 90 in U.S. for first time in years

The number of measles cases reported in the U.S. in a single week has topped 90 for the first time since a record wave in 2019, according to figures published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ninety-one cases of measles were reported with rashes that began the week of March 23, with Arkansas, Hawaii and Indiana joining the list of two dozen states with confirmed measles cases.

For the week of March 30, 81 cases were reported, and another 21 cases were reported for the following week. But those figures are expected to rise as more cases are confirmed.

So far this year, at least 712 measles cases have been confirmed in the U.S. – the second-highest number of cases reported in a single year since the 1990s. Nearly 30,000 measles cases were reported in 1990, largely due to gaps in vaccination.

In 2019, there were 1,274 confirmed measles cases.

The CDC said Friday there have been seven local outbreaks of the virus in the U.S., up from six last week. The outbreak in Texas and neighboring New Mexico remains the country’s largest, with nearly 600 cases between the two states.

A CDC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, asked about the new outbreaks. The agency previously said outbreaks had been reported in Texas and New Mexico, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio and Kansas.

This week’s update came a day after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described his strategy for handling the current outbreak as a success, even after a third death of an unvaccinated American was linked to it.

“Our numbers in this country have now plateaued. And I want to thank CDC for that,” Kennedy said Thursday at a White House Cabinet meeting. 

Kennedy compared the nation’s measles figures to those in Europe, which has seen thousands more measles cases and several more deaths. Health officials there have been grappling with record measles cases in recent years due to steep gaps in vaccination rates in several countries.

Unlike in Europe, prolonged local outbreaks of measles had been declared eliminated in the Americas. Officials have warned that this year’s outbreaks in the region are now threatening that public health achievement.

Kennedy also told President Trump at the Cabinet meeting, “We’re trying to refocus the press. We’ve had three measles deaths in this country over 20 years, and we’re trying to refocus the press to get them to pay attention to the chronic disease epidemic.”

One CDC official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, warned that any apparent slowdown in recent measles cases should be treated with caution. Challenges in quickly identifying and reporting cases from the outbreaks can distort figures.

During outbreaks, weekly measles cases almost always appear to be lower in more recent weeks due to reporting delays, they said.

Some travelers to Texas and Kansas are also now being advised to get a second or early dose of the measles vaccine, the CDC said in a letter to health departments this week, marking the first time in years that the CDC has published these kinds of vaccination recommendations for domestic travel within the country.

“The current increase in measles cases in the United States is due to people returning to the United States from international trips with measles and an expanding outbreak among communities with low vaccination coverage in Texas and other states,” the CDC wrote in its letter.