Gov. Kathy Hochul declares disaster emergency for NYS over measles spike
A combination measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday declared a state disaster emergency after a spike in New York measles cases. Credit: AP/Mary Conlon
A steady increase in measles cases, especially in rural areas, prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday to declare a state disaster emergency.
There have been 108 cases so far this year in New York State, compared with 48 for all of 2025. A nationwide measles surge started last year, with outbreaks in communities where people are unvaccinated or undervaccinated, officials said.
Long Island has only one confirmed case of measles this year: a young unvaccinated child in Nassau County. In 2025 there was one case in Suffolk County and in 2024 one case in Nassau. In both instances, the patient was a young unvaccinated child. The most recent cases before that on Long Island occurred in 2019.
The emergency declaration allows paramedics, advanced EMS providers, pharmacists and midwives to administer the measles vaccine. It also gives nurses the ability to order testing, according to the announcement.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can lead to fever, rash and in more serious cases, pneumonia and swelling of the brain. It is transmitted when infected people cough and sneeze and others breathe those droplets in the air. In some cases, it can be caused by touching contaminated surfaces.
"No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease," Hochul said in a statement. "That is why I have taken steps to increase the number of health professionals who can vaccinate and test."
Officials said 92 cases were reported since July 15 in under-immunized, rural communities in 18 New York counties — with the majority in Otsego, Seneca and Steuben counties.
Hochul said more than 1,000 doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine have been administered in rural areas of the state since then.
Pennsylvania, which shares its northern border with New York, is the state reporting the most cases so far this year with more than 1,000. Nationwide, 3,887 cases have been reported, compared with 2,289 in 2025 and 285 in 2024.
Measles was considered eliminated in 2000, when there were just 85 cases in the United States. Before the vaccine was licensed in 1962, there were more than 481,000 cases nationwide.
Experts say vaccine hesitancy has helped fuel the current outbreaks. Additionally, some of the outbreaks are taking place in regions where vaccines are not given because of cultural norms, such as the Amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which has 391 cases.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows MMR vaccination coverage among kindergartners in the United States has decreased over the last two years.
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
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