Epi-Aid experts typically work with a state for one to three weeks to provide technical assistance investigating an \u201curgent public health problem,\u201d according to the CDC\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania has the worst measles outbreak in the country in more than three decades.<\/p>\n
In the last week, the state reported 157 new cases. The outbreak is centered in Lancaster County and has spread across the state, including into Chester<\/a> County in the Philadelphia suburbs. <\/p>\n In addition to the expert assistance, federal health officials have provided nearly $4 million in one-time funding to \u201csupport measles response operations\u201d through most of 2027, an HHS official said.<\/p>\n The CDC will \u201ccontinue working closely with Pennsylvania health officials to provide the expertise and support needed to respond to the outbreak and protect public health,\u201d HHS press secretary Grace Davis Jamison wrote in an email.<\/p>\n The state has asked for help improving its understanding of case counts and the trajectory of the outbreak; estimating the \u201ctrue burden\u201d of measles in Pennsylvania; and understanding how vaccination efforts impact those analyses, Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson Neil Ruhland said in a statement.<\/p>\n He said that the effort would be complementary to the health department\u2019s ongoing measles response and that the state is already receiving \u201cremote assistance\u201d from the CDC\u2019s measles response team. About 300 health department staff are working directly with communities around the state, Ruhland said.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s request for federal help has been complicated by a highly politicized dispute around the reporting of deaths linked to measles. <\/p>\n Since late August, when the state reported its first two deaths associated with the highly contagious virus, President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has questioned the validity of the state\u2019s death reporting. <\/p>\n He and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a> have accused each other of politicizing the deaths. Shapiro claims that Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccination activist, spread misinformation that decreased vaccination rates and made Pennsylvania vulnerable to a measles outbreak.<\/p>\n Kennedy and CDC Director Erica Schwartz recommend vaccination as the most effective way to prevent measles, the HHS statement noted.<\/p>\n Under Kennedy\u2019s direction, the CDC for weeks omitted measles-associated deaths from its measles data dashboard. <\/p>\n HHS representatives also said the state had not been cooperating with the federal agency, noting that Pennsylvania had not requested assistance through Epi-Aid as other states had. <\/p>\n Before requesting Epi-Aid assistance, Pennsylvania health officials said they were already working closely with CDC staff.<\/p>\n On Sept. 16, state Health Secretary Debra Bogen sent a letter to the CDC saying the state would accept Epi-Aid help if the CDC acknowledged the deaths<\/a> reported in Pennsylvania, which now total five confirmed by the state. A sixth death, reported this week by a coroner in Franklin County, remains under state investigation.<\/p>\n But the CDC\u2019s data dashboard still reflected only two measles deaths this year nationally as of Wednesday, without noting the location. <\/p>\n The agency says it is working to establish a standard definition for measles deaths and in the meantime will report \u201cmeasles-caused deaths\u201d when the National Center for Health Statistics identifies measles as the underlying cause of a death, based on information from death records submitted by states. <\/p>\n Public health experts have noted that this process is a departure from previous death reporting protocols and often takes weeks longer<\/a>.<\/p>\n The state had \u201cseveral weeks of discussions\u201d with professional staff at the CDC and formally submitted the Epi-Aid request Oct. 7, Ruhland said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to seek information from the CDC about their process for reporting deaths before finalizing acceptance of Epi-Aid support,\u201d Ruhland wrote, noting that the CDC updated its dashboard to reflect two measles deaths after Bogen\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n Latest measles case counts<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Pennsylvania health officials reported that 1,222 people in nearly two-thirds of the state\u2019s counties have contracted measles so far in 2026.<\/p>\n Health experts say this number is likely an undercount, as not all measles cases are reported to the state. <\/p>\n About one in five of the reported measles cases required hospitalization.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792060217_695_circle_outline_footer_light_theme.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n