Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak, centered in Lancaster County, had grown to at least 460 confirmed cases across 31 counties as of the state health department’s August 28, 2026 update, which also counted 83 hospitalizations and two deaths. State officials call those the first measles deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years and the first in the United States in 2026. But the state’s account of the two deaths is disputed: the county coroner’s office challenges the state’s cause-of-death classification for the infant and says it has no record of the second death — a controversy that has drawn in the federal government’s top health official.
Key facts
- 460+ confirmed cases across 31 counties, per the state’s August 28, 2026 update
- 83 hospitalizations and two deaths reported as of that update
- State officials call these Pennsylvania’s first measles deaths in 35 years and the first in the U.S. in 2026
- The county coroner disputes the state’s cause of death for one case and says he has no record of the second
- Lancaster County accounts for roughly half the state’s cases
- Pennsylvania ranks third among U.S. states for 2026 measles cases, behind South Carolina and Utah
- The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)’s national 2026 count reached 2,903 cases as of around August 31 — the highest since measles was declared eliminated in 2000
Timeline
- Late April 2026 — Five measles cases in Lancaster County meet the federal outbreak definition, the state’s first cases of the year
- August 4-5 — Exposure site: a soccer camp at Millersville University
- August 12 — Exposure site: a Whole Foods Market in Lancaster
- August 14 — A newborn dies at a Strasburg Township birthing center after testing positive for measles
- August 14-17 — Exposure site: Geisinger Medical Center in Danville
- August 17 — Exposure site: the main lobby of Penn State’s Golisano Children’s Hospital
- August 25 — State health officials announce two measles-associated deaths
- August 26 — The deaths are reported to the CDC’s measles response team
- August 28 — State update: 460 cases, 83 hospitalizations, two deaths
- August 31 — CDC reports 2,903 confirmed U.S. measles cases for 2026, not yet including Pennsylvania’s two deaths
What the state has confirmed
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the two deaths on August 25, 2026. Both people lived in Lancaster County and were unvaccinated against measles, the state said. The department has not released either person’s name, age or other identifying details, citing privacy.
The first of the two deaths was a newborn who died August 14 at a birthing center in Strasburg Township, in Lancaster County, after testing positive for measles on a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) blood test. The infant was too young for the first routine measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine dose, which is recommended starting at 12 months. The state health department classified the death as “measles-associated” and has said the infant’s death certificate lists measles as a contributing condition.
Why the cause is disputed
The Lancaster County Coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, has pushed back on the state’s account of the infant’s death. His office’s forensic pathologist found evidence of measles virus in the infant’s lung tissue, Diamantoni has said. But the pathologist concluded the actual cause of death was a traumatic laceration of the spleen leading to massive blood loss. The spleen showed no swelling or enlargement — a finding the pathologist cited as the reason he did not believe the death was measles-related. The state, by contrast, classifies the death under a broader term: “measles-associated.” The health department has said that label means measles was detected in the patient, whether or not it was later confirmed as the immediate cause of death. Officials have acknowledged that distinction was not clearly explained to the public when the deaths were first announced.
The coroner’s office has raised a separate question about the second death: Diamantoni has said his office has no record of it and does not know who the person was. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen has said she personally reviewed the case investigation files and stands by both measles-associated deaths, which she said were reported to the CDC’s measles response team on the morning of August 26. Neither side has publicly resolved the disagreement.
RFK Jr.’s claim, and the state’s response
The dispute escalated when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested on social media that the two deaths “may even have been altogether fabricated,” pointing to the coroner’s statement that his office had no record of a measles death. That is Kennedy’s own characterization; Pennsylvania officials have disputed it. Bogen said her review confirmed two measles-associated deaths were reported through proper channels, and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has stood by the state’s count. A Lancaster County commissioner, Joshua Parsons, took the opposite side of that same argument, separately accusing Shapiro of “deceptive” framing of the infant’s death. Neither Kennedy’s fabrication claim nor the state’s rebuttal has been independently proven.
The dispute has also reached the national numbers. In its most recent update, posted around August 31, the CDC reported 2,903 confirmed measles cases nationally for 2026 — the highest annual U.S. total since measles was declared eliminated in the country in 2000, and already well above 2025’s full-year count of 2,289. The Philadelphia Inquirer and PhillyVoice have reported that this national tally does not yet include Pennsylvania’s two measles-associated deaths, pending review by the CDC of whether measles caused or contributed to them. The reports cited here do not include a public CDC response to the coroner’s dispute over the two deaths.
How the outbreak grew
The outbreak began in late April 2026, when five measles cases in Lancaster County met the federal definition for an outbreak — the first measles cases reported in Pennsylvania that year. Lancaster County, home to a large Amish and Mennonite population, has remained the hardest hit, accounting for roughly half of the state’s cases; state officials describe most cases as concentrated in the broader “Plain community,” covering Amish, Mennonite and some low-vaccination Christian schools in the county, while stressing the outbreak is not confined to religious communities there. By late August, Pennsylvania ranked third among U.S. states for 2026 measles cases, behind South Carolina and Utah. A later report that was not independently re-verified put the statewide total at roughly 497 confirmed cases across 34 counties by about August 31. The state’s own online dashboard, updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, remains the most current source for county-by-county case counts, hospitalizations and vaccination status of confirmed cases; case totals have continued climbing since the state’s August 28 update.
Public exposure sites (August 2026)
Health officials have flagged several public exposure sites in August:
- Geisinger Medical Center, Danville — August 14-17, a visiting adult with measles
- Penn State’s Golisano Children’s Hospital, main lobby — August 17, about two and a half hours
- UPMC Children’s Hospital emergency department, Allegheny County
- Millersville University soccer camp, Lancaster County — August 4-5
- Whole Foods Market, 1563 Fruitville Pike, Lancaster — August 12
Anyone who was at those locations during the listed windows and develops symptoms — which typically appear 7 to 21 days after exposure — is advised to contact a doctor before showing up in person, since the virus can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a room.
The vaccination picture
State school data shows Lancaster County entered the school year with roughly 88% of kindergartners and 83% of seventh-graders fully vaccinated against measles — both below the state’s overall average near 97% and below the roughly 95% coverage level public health officials generally say is needed to prevent community spread. Some Mennonite and Christian schools in the county reported vaccination rates below 50%. The MMR vaccine is about 97% effective after two doses, according to the state health department, which also notes that nearly 20% of measles patients nationally require hospitalization and that death occurs in an estimated 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 cases.
Since cases began emerging, more than 600 MMR doses have been administered in Lancaster County, compared with 179 doses given there in all of 2025, the state health department said — part of a broader push that has included pop-up vaccination clinics across the affected counties.