The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not counting two measles-associated deaths reported by Pennsylvania in its national tally after delaying its weekly update and posting the figures over the weekend with the deaths marked only by an asterisk and footnote.
The move means the CDC has left its 2026 death count open while it reviews whether measles caused or contributed to the fatalities. The agency said it does not have enough information to make that call, and that it will update the number when additional information becomes available.
The decision matters because the weekly Friday measles data update was delayed just as readers were looking for confirmation of whether the two Pennsylvania deaths would be added. Pennsylvania health officials had already said they thoroughly investigated both deaths, and Neil Ruhland said the Pennsylvania Department of Health had provided all required epidemiological data to the CDC.
That left the two sides talking past each other. Pennsylvania said the deaths had been reviewed in detail before being announced on August 25. The CDC then said the deaths would not be included in this week’s measles outbreaks update while it reviewed more information about the circumstances and causes of death, adding that available information did not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the people died from other causes while infected with measles.
Grace Davis Jamison said the agency had a duty to make its reporting accurately and transparently reflect what is known and what remains unconfirmed, and said the two deaths announced by Pennsylvania had not been confirmed based on the information currently available to CDC. Nirav Shah went further, calling the move highly unusual and saying the idea of second-guessing the determination of the state epidemiologist was “pretty remarkable.”
The dispute has put a spotlight on how infection-related deaths are counted, especially when a person tests positive and dies close to that test but the cause is still being sorted out. Shah said that a total count of deaths related to any infection has long been an umbrella term for that kind of case, which is why the CDC director’s decision drew so much attention.
For now, the national tally remains unsettled. The CDC has said it will update the count once the missing information is in hand, but until then the two Pennsylvania deaths sit outside the official total even as the outbreak and the accounting around it continue to overlap.
