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Public Health

Vetted resources and information on current public health events.

Historical Measles Cases & Outbreaks

Number of measles cases reported by year
2010-2023* (as of February 15, 2024)

*Case count is preliminary and subject to change.


U.S. Historical Measles Cases and Outbreaks
Year Total Number of Cases Number of Jurisdictions
2023 58 20
2022 121 6
2021

49

5
2020 13 8
2019* 1,274

31


2019 Global Measles Outbreak

The 2019 measles outbreak refer to a substantial global increase in the number of measles cases reported, relative to 2018. As of April 2019, the number of measles cases reported worldwide represented a 300% increase from the number of cases seen in the previous year, constituting over 110,000 measles cases reported in the first three months of 2019. In the first half of 2019, the World Health Organization received reports of 364,808 measles cases from 182 countries, up 182% from the same time period of 2018 when 129,239 confirmed cases were reported by 181 countries.

 
U.S. Outbreak

In the United States, the number of measles cases was set to reach a 25-year high by the middle of the year, beginning with a large concentration of cases in the Pacific Northwest followed by another in New York, as well in the state of California with two quarantines ordered at two colleges in Los Angeles on April 28, 2019.

 

NYC Outbreak

The 2019 New York City measles outbreak was a substantial increase in the number of measles cases reported in the state of New York, primarily in New York City and neighboring Rockland County, New York in 2019, relative to the previous year.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency on April 9, 2019. At that point, 285 cases of measles had been reported in Brooklyn and Queens since the October 2018. By the beginning of May 2019, 423 confirmed cases of measles had been reported in New York City.

On September 3, 2019, the New York City Health Department declared the outbreak to be over, due to the passage of a sufficient period of time with no new cases being reported in the city. NYC Health reported 649 total cases, with 473 cases in Williamsburg and 121 cases in Borough Park. Approximately 33,805 doses of the MMR vaccine were administered to people younger than 19 years old in Williamsburg and Borough Park.