announced Monday evening<\/a> that a child in Lewis County died after contracting measles. They said it was New York\u2019s first measles-related death in 30 years.<\/p>\nIn a statement Tuesday morning, public health extended its sympathy to the family and loved ones of the child.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask our community to offer compassion and respect for the family\u2019s privacy during this heartbreaking time,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Public health also reminded the public that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against the illness.<\/p>\n
Governor\u2019s response<\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday evening she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d to learn about the child\u2019s death. <\/p>\n
She also said it was \u201ca devastating reminder of what\u2019s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was likely referring to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, who has prompted confusion and criticism over the MMR vaccine. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn New York, we will continue to stand by proven public health measures and do everything we can to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n
HHS response<\/p>\n
HHS issued the following statement Tuesday:<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hearts go out to the family mourning this tragic loss. Following New York\u2019s formal request for an Epi-Aid, CDC deployed epidemiologists and other experts to work alongside state health officials on the ground, providing surveillance, data analysis, strategic planning, and other outbreak response support. Secretary Kennedy and CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz continue to make clear that the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to prevent measles.\u201d<\/p>\n
County sees new measles case<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Lewis County Public Health released its latest information about measles cases in the county. <\/p>\n
There is one new case, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 16. All of the cases are in people who were not vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Measles symptoms<\/p>\n
Symptoms of measles can include:<\/p>\n
High feverCoughRunny noseRed, watery eyes<\/p>\n
Symptoms can appear seven to 14 days, and up to 21 days, after a measles infection.<\/p>\n
A rash can occur three to five days after symptoms become apparent. The rash usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline and spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. <\/p>\n
Small, raised bumps may also appear on top of the flat red spots. The spots may become joined together as they spread from the head to the rest of the body.<\/p>\n
When the rash appears, a person\u2019s fever may spike to more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n
In October, Jefferson County Public Health Director Stephen Jennings joined Jeff Cole at the 7NEWS Digital News Desk to talk about prevention, facts about measles that people may not know, and more.<\/p>\n
You can watch the full interview below.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WWNY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENMARK, New York (WWNY) – The New York Times is reporting that the Lewis County child who died…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":905242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,378728,92346,9572,41559,19721],"class_list":["post-905241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-jeffrey-tompkins","tag-lewis-county","tag-measles","tag-new-case","tag-new-york-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}