The CDC has delayed counting 2 Pennsylvania deaths in the measles outbreak after removing them from its weekly national tally while it reviews whether measles caused or contributed to the fatalities. The weekly Friday update, posted over the weekend, listed 2026 deaths with an asterisk and footnote instead of adding the Pennsylvania deaths.
Neil Ruhland said the Pennsylvania Department of Health had provided all required epidemiological data to the CDC regarding the 2 measles-associated deaths. Pennsylvania health officials said they thoroughly investigated both deaths before announcing them, putting the state and the federal tally on different tracks for now.
CDC weekly update and the asterisk
The CDC said the update would not include the 2 measles-associated deaths reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on August 25 while it reviews additional information regarding the circumstances and causes of death. The agency said available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles.
That left the national count marked by a footnote rather than a number. For readers following the measles outbreak, the immediate change is not a new case count but a gap in the death tally that the CDC says it will fill only after additional information arrives.
Pennsylvania’s review versus CDC’s count
Erica Schwartz ordered the delay in counting the deaths, a move that came after the CDC delayed its weekly Friday measles data update. Grace Davis Jamison said the two measles-associated deaths announced by Pennsylvania have not been confirmed based on the information currently available to CDC.
Neil Ruhland’s statement directly pushed back on that position: “Every reported measles case is thoroughly reviewed to confirm it meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) case definition for a measles case. To date, DOH has provided all required epidemiological data to the CDC regarding the two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania.” The dispute is over whether the federal review needs more before those deaths enter the national tally, not over whether Pennsylvania filed a report.
Shah questions the CDC move
Nirav Shah called the decision to second-guess Pennsylvania’s determination “pretty remarkable” and said, “For the CDC, let alone the CDC director, to overrule that sort of determination and just put that vague language up on the website, it's more than atypical.” Shah also said the CDC has long used a broad umbrella term for deaths related to infections that can include people who tested positive and then died close to the time of the positive test.
The CDC said it will update the national count as additional information becomes available. For now, the practical result is that Pennsylvania’s 2 reported deaths remain outside the federal total while the agency reviews the cause-of-death question that sits at the center of the measles outbreak count.
