MOVING BACKWARDS

Measles Cases Hit Ominous New High

The CDC just released some worrying new data.

The total number of measles cases in the United States has already surpassed the total amount recorded in 2025, with over five months still left in the year. The worrying statistics were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday. The CDC had logged 2,318 cases of measles as of Thursday, July 23, the agency said. That’s almost 30 more cases than the 2,289 logged in the entirety of 2025. 2025 had the highest number of recorded cases in more than three decades. With that record smashed, 2026 is on track to be the worst for measles since at least 1991, when there were 9,643 cases. Since the early ’90s, measles cases declined in line with high vaccination rates and measles was declared eradicated in 2000. The anti-vaccination movement has caused a comeback, however. The current crop of outbreaks are heaviest in states including Texas, South Carolina, Utah, Pennsylvania and Florida. In the U.S., death from neurologic or respiratory complications of measles occurs in one to three of every 1,000 cases.