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Measles cases reach record highs across the US
July 24, 2026
AP News reports 2026 is now the worst US measles year since 1991, driven by major outbreaks in South Carolina, Utah and Arizona, with smaller clusters in other states.
AP News reports that 2026 has easily become the worst year for measles in the United States since 1991, as major outbreaks in South Carolina, Utah and Arizona have sickened hundreds and smaller clusters have sparked in other states. News4JAX and CNN corroborate that record framing, and The New York Times and The Washington Post carry it in their headlines as well, with the Times connecting the record to waning vaccination rates. AP News also reports the baseline that makes the record legible: the nation had 2,289 cases in 2025, itself the worst year in more than three decades, a figure News4JAX corroborates.
The state-level picture comes chiefly from News4JAX, which reports that Florida has confirmed 141 measles cases in 2026, the fifth-highest total in the nation this year according to CDC data, a claim CNN corroborates. Looking back at the outbreak's origins, AP News reports that the Texas state health department previously counted 182 probable cases that went unconfirmed in March 2025 among minors in Gaines County, the epicenter of that outbreak, "due to a lack of information"; The Washington Post corroborates that account.
One consequential claim stands on a single source: AP News alone reports that the 2026 tally has already surpassed the record-breaking total for all of 2025, with five more months of the year still to come. What is settled is the record itself, the 2025 baseline, Florida's 141 cases and the Gaines County unconfirmed count, each backed by at least one corroborating outlet. What is not settled is the claim that 2026 has already overtaken 2025's full-year total, which no second outlet has yet confirmed.
Still developing
The claim that 2026's tally has already surpassed 2025's full-year total rests on AP News alone, and where the count lands with five months of the year remaining is still taking shape across sources.