By admin 
Reuters —
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a statewide disaster emergency on Monday over a measles outbreak, the first such declaration by a U.S. state since cases began surging in 2025.
Read more Trump uses anti-transgender slur to attack South Carolina Senate candidate
The state also expanded the pool of health professionals allowed to administer measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines as cases rise in rural communities.
New York has reported 108 measles cases this year through October 3, including 92 since July 15 in under-immunized rural communities across 18 counties, well above typical annual levels, according to the executive order.
Seven of the cases are in New York City and 101 are elsewhere in the state, the governor’s office said. Local health departments have administered more than 1,000 MMR doses in rural areas since July 15.
Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. For the quarter century that followed, there were an average of just 180 measles cases per year nationwide, federal data shows.
But measles started to make an historic resurgence in 2025, and the outbreak in New York is far from the largest the US has seen in the past two years. There were at least 762 cases associated with an outbreak in West Texas last year, and an outbreak in South Carolina reached nearly 1,000 cases before it was declared over in April.
Read more Send us your questions for Texas Senate candidate James Talarico
Neighboring Pennsylvania is battling a fast-spreading outbreak, with 977 cases and five deaths as of October 2, mostly in rural counties that border New York, the order said.
Pennsylvania health officials said on Monday the state’s total had passed 1,000 cases, making it the largest state outbreak in more than three decades.
The US is having its worst year for measles since 1991, with nearly 3,900 cases reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The order allows registered nurses to order tests for suspected measles and pharmacists to vaccinate children as young as two. It also requires all MMR vaccinations to be reported to state or New York City immunization registries within 72 hours, while waiving adults’ consent for such reporting.
Vaccination itself still requires the consent of the patient or a legal guardian. The emergency took effect on Monday and runs through November 4.
Read more 7 best support socks for varicose veins of 2026
Reuters contributed to this story.