ALBANY – The number of measles cases in New York has more than quadrupled since the start of August and is already higher than what was recorded for all of 2025.
There have been 57 cases of the disease recorded by the state Department of Health and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene this year through Saturday, the latest data available Thursday afternoon.
It’s a significant increase compared to the start of August, when the state had recorded only 12 cases of the disease for the year.
It’s also higher than the 48 cases recorded by the state and New York City in 2025, which had already been a spike compared to the 29 cases in 2024.
But it’s still far off from New York’s measles outbreak in 2019, when there were at least 914 recorded cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
That’s the year the state, in response, approved legislation that banned religious exemptions for the vaccines that students are required to receive to attend school in New York. That includes the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
It was later confirmed that the outbreak was tied to low vaccination rates in certain areas of the state and “measles parties,” where parents would deliberately gather to expose their children to the disease to build immunity, according to researchers at Columbia University.
At the time, cases had been concentrated in parts of Brooklyn and Rockland County. That’s not the case this year.
Only six of the cases confirmed so far have been in New York City and Rockland County has only reported four. The rest are largely concentrated in four counties.
A map of measles cases county-by-county, as of Sept. 12, 2026. (Data: New York State Department of Health, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) (Times Union)
Steuben County has had 10 cases, Seneca County has had nine, Otsego County has had seven and Allegany County has had six. The 12 other counties with cases haven’t had more than two each.
But those four counties also happen to have some of the lowest vaccination rates for measles in the state, according to the state Department of Health.
The statewide average vaccination rate for measles is 80.9%. Each of the four counties has a lower rate, ranging from 79.1% in Steuben County to 71.2% in Seneca County.
Two of the counties – Steuben and Allegany – also sit on the state’s southern border with Pennsylvania, which is experiencing a widespread outbreak of the disease.
There have been 731 cases in that state this year, including 117 in the past week, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. They’ve mostly been concentrated in Lancaster County, which sits on the southwest border of that state.
Cases have been detected in counties that share a border with New York as well, but they’ve been in the single digits.
New cases have been trending downward in New York over the last month, suggesting a stop in the spread. There were only three new cases last week – down from 11 in late August.
The state Department of Health in New York encouraged residents this week to get vaccinated against the disease if they haven’t already and asked doctors to be prepared to diagnose and treat it.
“Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious illness and hospitalizations, yet it is effectively prevented with up-to-date measles immunizations,” said State Health Commissioner James McDonald.
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This article originally published at Measles cases in New York have quadrupled since July, already outpacing 2025.