The CDC counts 4,588 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. this year as of October 22, more than double the 2,289 reported in all of 2025. How measles spreads, how to check that your family is protected, and what to do after an exposure. Plus what the deaths in Hurricane Isaias had in common.
As of October 22, the CDC counts 4,588 confirmed measles cases in the United States this year, reported by 47 jurisdictions. That is already more than double the 2,289 cases reported in all of 2025. The CDC lists 43 new outbreaks this year, and 96 percent of confirmed cases are linked to one. By October 9 the count had passed 4,000, which FOX 29 reported, citing the CDC, was the highest yearly total since 1991.
Pennsylvania accounts for a large share. The state passed 1,000 confirmed cases this month, more than a quarter of the national total, FOX 29 reported on October 12. Six measles-related deaths have been reported in Pennsylvania this year. Reuters reported that the first five people who died were all unvaccinated; the county coroner has not said whether the sixth, a 39-year-old woman who died on October 10, was vaccinated.
Measles spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and the CDC says the virus can live for up to two hours in the air of a room after that person has left. Up to 90 percent of close contacts who are not immune will catch it. People are contagious from four days before the rash appears to four days after it, so they can spread measles before they know they have it.
Symptoms start 7 to 14 days after exposure, according to the CDC, typically with a high fever that may spike above 104 degrees, a cough, a runny nose and red, watery eyes. The rash follows 3 to 5 days after the first symptoms. Measles can be serious at any age; the CDC lists children under 5, adults over 20, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems as most at risk.
If you think you or your child has been exposed, the CDC says to call your health care provider immediately.
The protection is the MMR vaccine. The CDC says two doses are 97 percent effective against measles and one dose is 93 percent effective. Children are recommended to get two doses, at 12 to 15 months and at 4 to 6 years. Adults are recommended to have at least one documented dose, and some higher-risk adults need two.
The CDC accepts any one of these as evidence of immunity: written records of vaccination, a lab test showing immunity, a lab-confirmed case of measles in the past, or being born before 1957. The time to find those records is before an exposure, not after. Infants 6 to 11 months old should get an early dose before international travel.
After an exposure, timing matters. The CDC says an MMR dose within 72 hours of exposure may give some protection or a milder illness, and that getting the vaccine after an exposure is not harmful. For people at high risk, a doctor may give immune globulin within six days.
If measles does reach your home, the CDC's numbers mean the sick person is contagious for about eight days, from four days before the rash to four days after it, so others in the house may already have been exposed by the time the rash appears.
Keeping a household at home while a contagious illness spreads is the Pandemic scenario. MyPlann counts how many days your household could stay in, from what is actually on your shelves, and tells you what runs out first.
Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on the evening of October 9 as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 105 mph, then weakened as it moved inland through Alabama, Al Jazeera reported. At least four people died, two in Florida and two in Alabama. Nearly 900,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Alabama and Georgia were without power the next morning, according to PowerOutage.us figures reported by CBS12.
Two of the deaths came from trees falling on homes: a woman in Escambia County, Florida, according to the sheriff, and a person near Birmingham, Alabama, more than 200 miles from where the storm came ashore, according to county emergency officials. In Escambia County, a man was found dead in his garage, which was closed with a generator running inside it, a county spokesperson said. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey confirmed a second death in the state without giving details.
Those are old lessons. Ready.gov says to take refuge in an interior room during high winds, and one of the two tree deaths happened far inland. The CDC says never to use a generator inside a home, and to keep it outside, at least 20 feet from doors, windows and vents.
Riding out a hurricane and the power outage after it is the Hurricane scenario. MyPlann counts how long your household could last at home on what you have, and tells you what runs out first.
This issue reflects what was known on Monday, October 26, 2026. The national measles counts are from the CDC's measles data page, updated October 23. Pennsylvania's figures and the 1991 comparison are from FOX 29, which cites the CDC, the state Department of Health, the county coroner and Reuters. How measles spreads, its symptoms and the vaccine guidance are from the CDC's pages on transmission, symptoms and vaccination. Isaias's landfall and death toll are from Al Jazeera, the individual deaths and the power outages from CBS12, the generator rule from the CDC's disaster safety messages, and the interior-room advice from Ready.gov.
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