US health officials are logging measles numbers they haven’t seen in decades. The CDC says at least 5,182 cases have been reported so far this year—the highest annual tally since 1991—with 96% involving people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status isn’t clear, per Reuters. Hospitalizations have reached 562, about 11% of all known cases. Per the CDC, cases have popped up in 45 states, reports ABC News. Pennsylvania has been slammed the worst, reporting 1,487 cases, nearly 300 hospitalizations, and six measles-linked deaths, per Reuters. Wisconsin reported an infant’s death on Thursday, while New York recently logged its first measles-related death in more than 30 years.
The CDC, which now relies on National Center for Health Statistics mortality data, has officially counted four measles-associated deaths this year. South Carolina and Utah follow Pennsylvania with 670 and 536 cases, respectively, as health authorities track 43 separate outbreaks and await a ruling on whether the US keeps its measles-elimination status, which it has claimed since 2000. The Globe and Mail, meanwhile, tells a “tale of two outbreaks”: the one in the US, which continues to grow, and the one in Canada, which has effectively been vanquished.