Of the nearly 400 measles cases confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health this year, about half have been in Lancaster County.<\/p>\n
Published Aug 28, 2026 10:38 AM EDT\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Updated Aug 28, 2026 10:38 AM EDT\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tMeasles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, and until recently, most of the country had maintained vaccination levels high enough to to prevent ongoing transmission. (Photo Credit: Joe Raedle\/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)\n<\/p>\n
\n\t(CNN) \u2014\u00a0Brittany Nicole Sponenberg\u2019s son has been in a neonatal intensive care unit in Danville, Pennsylvania, for almost two months while his underdeveloped lungs and gut grew strong enough to handle regular breathing and feeding.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tLast week, Sponenberg said, she sat silent\u00a0on the phone with a doctor while he explained that her tiny baby had been exposed to measles while in the NICU. The area where her son is hospitalized is the epicenter of an expanding outbreak of measles, the world\u2019s most contagious infection.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAs the infection tears through unvaccinated families, it\u2019s showing up in places where people who can\u2019t be protected for various reasons \u2013 either because they\u2019re too young or old, or because their immune systems don\u2019t respond well to vaccines \u2013 have to live, work or go to school. That\u2019s forcing people into difficult circumstances to protect themselves or their loved ones.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSponenberg and her baby were exposed to measles at Geisinger Medical Center by an adult who visited the unit between Friday, August 14 and Monday, August 17. According to information provided by the doctor treating her son, the person developed a fever and a rash on August 17 and tested positive for measles the next day.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBrittany Nicole Sponenberg’s son was born prematurely. Last week, the hospital told her he’d been exposed to measles in their neonatal intensive care unit. (Photo Credit: Brittany Nicole Sponenberg via CNN Newsource)\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSponenberg said she wasn\u2019t told until three days later, after her son had already been transferred to a different hospital closer to their home.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAnd he told me all of that, and I\u2019m like, are you kidding me right now?\u201d Sponenberg said.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tGeisinger Medical Center is in Danville, north of Lancaster County, which has large Amish and Mennonite communities. Although Amish and Mennonite people don\u2019t universally reject vaccines, they tend to have lower vaccination rates than the general population.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOf the nearly 400 measles cases confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health this year, about half have been in Lancaster County. On Tuesday, the state reported that two people with measles in Lancaster County had died, the first measles-related deaths there in 35 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tKimberly Reichenbach, 50, of Leola had to retire from her career as a corrections officer after health problems including severe asthma made her physically demanding job too difficult.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFor the past few years, she\u2019s made a little money driving Amish customers on their regular errands. Many Amish people shun certain kinds of modern technology, and Reichenbach says many now use ride services to get around.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBut Reichenbach said she quit driving altogether last week after she and her longtime partner, who has type 1 diabetes, separately drove clients who were sick or who had been exposed to measles.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the end of one trip, one woman said she was grateful to be able to pick up groceries because her whole family had measles and she wanted to restock her pantry before she too became too sick to get out of bed.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tReichenbach, who has lived in the area for the past 30 years, said her Amish neighbors tend to brush off their own health concerns and have told her they don\u2019t like to take medicine to ease their symptoms.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a tough place to be immune-compromised,\u201d said Reichenbach, who has a teen daughter. \u201cIf I get sick, who\u2019s going to take care my family?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tLast week, another client she drives to and from her job at a bakery got into the car coughing and sneezing.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tHer client said that it was just a cold and that was getting better, but Reichenbach said her explanation didn\u2019t ring true.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI even came home that day and said to my boyfriend, \u2018I\u2019m really concerned about this because I know that, especially in Lancaster, it\u2019s starting to get bad,\u2019\u201d she added. \u201cI canceled everybody.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tGeisinger isn\u2019t the only hospital where young patients have unwittingly been exposed. Penn State\u2019s Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital\u00a0warned families<\/a>\u00a0that someone had tested positive after being in the main lobby for two and a half hours on August 17. UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital Emergency Department was also the site of recent exposures,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0the Allegheny County Health Department.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOn Tuesday, Dr. Jeffrey Martin, who practices at Lancaster General Health, urged people seeking medical care to \u201cplease call ahead\u201d before they go to a hospital, clinic or urgent care if they think they might have measles.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cCalling ahead allows healthcare workers and teams to prepare and arrange for safe evaluation, minimizing exposure to others and protecting vulnerable patients who may be in waiting areas,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThis simple step can significantly reduce the risk of spread.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Geisinger doctor who spoke to Sponenberg last week characterized her son\u2019s risk of getting measles as low, she said, but explained that the baby would need to get an additional medicine, given through an injection in the top of each thigh, for protection. He would also be transferred to an isolation room in the hospital with special air circulation to keep any germs from escaping should he fall ill. He won\u2019t completely be clear of the risk for 28 days, Sponenberg said.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt really extremely upset me, because he was already having things to overcome. He had to get stabbed in the leg with something he shouldn\u2019t had to get stabbed in the leg with yet. He shouldn\u2019t have needed that medication yet, being that young,\u201d Sponenberg told CNN.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe\u2019s already had to overcome so many battles already. This was not a battle I wanted to add to us having to overcome.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tSponenberg said she\u2019d spoken with other parents who were also furious.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSome babies can\u2019t handle the loud noise from the pressure-controlled room in isolation, so they are having a rough time, especially the really, really little ones,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tPremature infants are among the most defenseless patients in a hospital, said Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPremature infants are vulnerable to infections for multiple reasons,\u201d he said. They\u2019re born before antibodies \u2013 protective proteins that recognize incoming germs \u2013 can be transferred from mother to baby during the later stages of pregnancy.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey are often supported with medical devices and for very early infants. Their skin does not yet serve as an effective barrier to protection,\u201d Creech said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tChildren under the age of 5 who get measles are more likely to develop serious complications, including pneumonia and brain swelling, compared with older kids.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn response to the incident, Geisinger\u00a0changed its screening<\/a>\u00a0protocols. Going forward, the hospital said in a statement, only parents or legal guardians will only be allowed in the NICU, or its nearby children\u2019s hospital, and only as long as they don\u2019t have signs or symptoms of measles. They will be encouraged to wear a surgical mask before entering the unit.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThese screenings are in place to best protect our patients, visitors and staff as measles cases are rising in the area,\u201d Geisinger said in a statement to CNN.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSponenberg said she doesn\u2019t understand why the hospital doesn\u2019t require visitors to show vaccination records before they can come in.\n<\/p>\n \n\tPediatric infectious disease experts said hospitals almost never restrict a parent\u2019s access to their child\u2019s bedside. If a parent has an illness so contagious that the hospital can\u2019t adequately protect other patients from it, such as tuberculosis, the parent and child\u00a0would probably be put in an isolation room with special airflow to contain germs. The room would have its own bathroom, and meals would be delivered to prevent the person from walking around the hospital.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOur teams established entrance screenings to best protect our patients, visitors and staff as measles cases are rising in the area. However, the screening process relies on accurate and complete information being shared at the time of entry,\u201d Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, Geisinger\u2019s Central Region chief medical officer, said in a statement on the hospital\u2019s website.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe understand how important it is for parents and immediate family members to be present with loved ones in the NICU, and we did not make this change in visitation policy lightly. We carefully considered the impact on families before determining that these temporary restrictions were necessary to protect our most vulnerable patients.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tMeasles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, and until recently, most of the country had maintained vaccination levels high enough to to prevent ongoing transmission. But in many areas, that safety net has worn thin as shifting states laws grant more personal belief exemptions that allow unvaccinated children to attend school.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAt the same time, government officials have cast doubt on the safety of vaccines, further discouraging vaccination. Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order directing the US Department of Health and Human Services to find a way to split up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate shots.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think you\u2019re going to see a very big difference in the rates of autism,\u201d Trump said when he signed the order, although dozens of studies have investigated a link between vaccines and autism and failed to find any connection.\n<\/p>\n \n\tUtilization of vaccine exemptions is\u00a0more common<\/a>\u00a0than it\u2019s ever been. Recently published data by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that\u00a04.2% of kindergartners had an exemption<\/a>\u00a0for at least one required vaccine during the 2025-26 school year.\n<\/p>\n \n\tExemptions increased in all but nine states, and nearly half of states report exemptions exceeding 5%, according to the CDC.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLast year, about 88% of kindergartners and 83% of seventh-graders started school fully vaccinated against measles in Lancaster County, far lower than the 95% threshold that creates community protection or herd immunity. When 95% of people are immunized, the infection doesn\u2019t spread easily from person to person.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBut those are averages spread across the entire county. While some public schools report that nearly all students have been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, some Mennonite and Christian schools in Lancaster County\u00a0report vaccination rates<\/a>\u00a0below 50%.\n<\/p>\n \n\tReichenbach said it\u2019s been alarming to her to see how casually her neighbors treat measles.\n<\/p>\n \n\tShe was supposed to go visit her young niece and nephew this week, but her doctor advised against it.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe doctor told her that because she and her boyfriend are immunized, they will probably be fine after their exposures, but \u201cthey\u2019re babies. They\u2019re toddlers. I wasn\u2019t going to risk it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tCNN\u2019s Deidre McPhillips contributed to this report.\n<\/p>\n \n\tCorrection: A previous version of this article misstated the location of Geisinger Medical Center. It is in Danville, Pennsylvania.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe-CNN-Wire\u2122 & \u00a9 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.\n<\/p>\n