A Lewis County child has died of measles, the first death from the disease in New York state in 30 years, state health officials said.
State and county health officials did not provide additional details about the child who died. In a joint statement, they called for respect for the privacy of the child’s family.
The death comes as the highly contagious disease continues to spread through undervaccinated communities upstate, in an outbreak that prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a state of disaster emergency last month.
“I am heartbroken to learn that a child in Lewis County has died after contracting measles,” Hochul said in a statement Monday evening. “As a mother and grandmother, I can’t imagine what this family is going through. »
Measles is a highly contagious disease that typically causes symptoms such as a runny nose, watery eyes and fever before a rash appears several days later, according to the state health department.
In New York, there have been 178 confirmed cases of measles this year through Oct. 24, with most cases recorded since August, according to the state Department of Health. All but eight of those who became ill were outside New York City.
Health officials in Otsego and Seneca counties, which have been hit by the outbreak, told Gothamist that the true toll was likely much higher than the official tally shows.
Outbreaks of the disease are also raging across the country, including in neighboring Pennsylvania. Nearly 5,000 cases of measles have been confirmed nationwide this year as of Oct. 30, the highest number since 1991, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York state health officials said they have offered to help Lewis County with its community outreach and vaccination efforts, “both in response to this case and as part of our ongoing efforts to support counties facing this ongoing measles outbreak.”
Hochul’s emergency order also allowed more types of health care workers to administer vaccines and conduct measles testing.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also deployed epidemiologists to New York to assist Hochul’s administration in its efforts to track and contain the outbreak, the agency announced Tuesday.
HHS said there are currently plans to send epidemiologists into the field to work with the New York State Department of Health until November 13.
But some people in areas affected by the outbreak remain resistant to vaccination, according to health workers and county health officials in the upstate.
People with ties to New York’s Amish communities say they are among those hardest hit by the outbreak, although state and county health officials have declined to say which groups are bearing the greatest burden.
The outbreak comes as some Amish in New York seek to add a religious exemption to the state’s school vaccination mandate.
Nationally, measles cases are increasing as childhood vaccination against the disease decreases, according to the CDC.
Hochul called out the Trump administration after the measles death in Lewis County, saying the death is a “devastating reminder of what’s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable diseases.”
President Donald Trump and his administration have in recent months called for children to be vaccinated against fewer diseases. Although the CDC continues to recommend measles vaccination, Trump has suggested that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines be divided into three separate vaccines.
However, HHS said Tuesday that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CDC Director Erica Schwartz are clear that the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to prevent measles.
This story has been updated with comments from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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