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Pennsylvania asks the CDC for emergency help as its measles cases reach 731
September 19, 2026
Pennsylvania is asking the CDC for emergency help as a major measles outbreak spreads, while the state and the US health secretary dispute how deaths are counted.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is the US health secretary and Josh Shapiro is Pennsylvania's Democratic governor. The CDC, the federal disease control agency, compiles the national counts of measles cases and deaths.
Key facts
- Health officials in the state said Wednesday that 731 measles infections have been confirmed this year, spread over 38 counties.
- Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who leads Pennsylvania, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, who serves as US health secretary, remain at odds over how the outbreak has been managed and how deaths tied to measles get counted.
- One statement read: “It is also deeply concerning to learn that the Secretary personally intervened in an otherwise administrative process to direct the CDC to not report these Pennsylvania deaths, presumably because it doesn’t fit his phony narrative.”
- Federal health officials have shifted to figures kept by NCHS, the federal statistics center whose records follow how death patterns move across years.
- Pennsylvania has asked for emergency help from the CDC, the federal disease control agency, while a large measles outbreak widens inside the state.
The Guardian reports that the state has asked the CDC for emergency help as a major measles outbreak spreads, and CNN carries the same account. The Guardian also reports a Wednesday announcement from the state health department, which put 731 confirmed measles cases in 38 counties this year, and CNN corroborates that count. The Guardian reports that the CDC now works from National Center for Health Statistics data, a way of tracking mortality trends over time, and CNN carries that too.
The quarrel behind the numbers is personal as well as technical. The Guardian reports a running dispute between Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, over how the outbreak has been handled and how measles deaths get counted. CNN reports a statement calling it “deeply concerning to learn that the Secretary personally intervened in an otherwise administrative process” to keep the Pennsylvania deaths out of the CDC's reporting, and The Guardian corroborates the statement. The Hill, in its headline, has Shapiro answering Kennedy and Trump over the outbreak and calling the handling incompetent.
The unsettled part is narrow and it matters. One account holds that a fourth death associated with measles has been reported in Pennsylvania and left out of the national total, a conflict public health has rarely seen in decades; a competing account does not carry the deaths that way. Settled across the coverage are the request for federal help, the 731 cases in 38 counties, the switch to NCHS data, and the feud between the governor and the health secretary. What each side counts as a measles death, and what the national total should show, is not.
Still developing
The open dispute is the CDC national total and the Pennsylvania measles deaths, where the accounts hold it differently.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- cnn.com — Pennsylvania reports fourth measles-related death, the most in US in decades
- NBC News — The escalating standoff between the CDC and Pennsylvania over measles deaths
- The Guardian — Pennsylvania asks CDC for emergency help as measles outbreak spreads
- The Hill — Shapiro fires back at RFK Jr., Trump on measles: ‘Incompetence’
Toggle read the full reports of 4 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 1 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.