Overview
- Johns Hopkins’ tracker reported 2,295 U.S. measles cases on July 22, 2026, surpassing 2025’s total while the CDC’s most recent public count stood at 2,260 cases across 44 states and Washington, D.C.
- Large, localized outbreaks in South Carolina (nearly 1,000 cases), Utah (about 700 cases) and Texas have driven much of the rise, and new clusters have appeared in Delaware (four unvaccinated adult men) and Montgomery County, Texas (four unvaccinated family members, one hospitalized).
- Public health officials say the majority of infections are in unvaccinated people, especially children and teens, and they emphasize that two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles.
- The disease’s high contagiousness forces intensive contact tracing and isolation for every case, and local health departments report staffing and funding shortfalls that limit their ability to contain spread.
- Sustained transmission could cause the U.S. to lose its measles elimination status, which requires no continuous domestic spread for 12 months, and federal health authorities plan a formal review of that designation in November.