The number of U.S. measles cases in 2019 rose by 60 during the week ending May 3, which puts the new postelimination high at 764 cases for the year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC is currently tracking nine measles outbreaks in six states. The largest outbreak this year has been in New York City, mainly Brooklyn, which has almost half (367) of all cases in the country. An outbreak in New York’s Rockland County has resulted in another 109 cases so far this year. California is experiencing outbreaks in three counties – Butte, Los Angeles, and Sacramento – and the state was up to 40 confirmed cases as of May 1. The other states with outbreaks are Michigan, New Jersey, Georgia, and Maryland.
Twenty-three states now have reported measles cases in 2019, as officials in Pittsburgh reported Pennsylvania’s first case on April 30. Four additional cases in the area were reported on May 2 by the Allegheny County Health Department. A measles outbreak is “defined as three or more cases” by the CDC, but the situation in Pennsylvania is not yet being reported as such.
One Pennsylvania legislator in the state, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R) of Butler County, has authored a bill that would “bar health care practitioners and facilities and insurance companies from denying care if parents refuse or delay” recommended vaccinations, PennLive.com reported.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) said that the “bill would put children, pregnant women, and vulnerable patients at risk of being exposed to horrific diseases – at the doctor’s office.”