There have been 378 total confirmed cases of measles in the United States as of March 20th, with one confirmed death and a second death under investigation, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Those cases have been reported in 18 jurisdictions including Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, and Washington state. 

Kelsey Striegel, family nurse practitioner at Washington County Hospital and Clinics, explains how contagious measles is with it remaining on surfaces up to two hours after a person coughs or sneezes, “Measles is a highly contagious viral illness. It spreads through coughing and sneezing. And the biggest problem with measles is that people don’t know they have it until many days after exposure because it can take between seven and 21 days to start to show the symptoms.”

The CDC states that prior to the measles vaccine being introduced, an estimated 48,000 people were hospitalized in the U.S. annually with 400 to 500 deaths. In 2000, measles had been declared eliminated in the U.S. however the vaccine coverage has fallen below the 95% target in recent years and global measles activity is increasing.

Striegel shares advice she has for parents, “Definitely bring this up at well-child checks. You know, providers are a great source of information. There is so much misinformation out there on the internet. You can be scrolling on Facebook. and you are getting advice from people who have no experience, or they have a vague memory of what it was like to have measles perhaps as a child. There’s just so many complications that can occur with something that is so preventable. And it’s hard for parents these days, there’s concerns about dyes in foods, forever chemicals, PFAS, radon, microplastics, lead, food, and formula. But this is just something that is so preventable and so easy to do with two doses of a vaccine. We just want to keep people in our community healthy and prevent that transmission.”

Striegel adds that if someone is unsure of their vaccination status, or if they’d like additional information about measles and the vaccine, to contact their medical provider.

While there have been 378 measles cases in the first quarter of 2025, there were a total of 285 for the entire year of 2024, and just 59 two years ago.

 

Image shown: CDC map of measles cases as of March 20, 2025