As of July 8, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 1,288 measles cases in 38 states. (The CDC is aware of probable measles cases still being reported, and the case count is higher.) Just halfway through the year, the case tally has already surpassed the last record since measles has been considered eliminated in the U.S. from 2019, when there were a total of 1,274 cases.

About 13% of the cases have required hospitalization in the U.S., with 92% of the cases in the unvaccinated or with unknown vaccination status. While most of the cases have been in children aged 5 to 19 (36%), those 20 and over came close behind with 34% and those under 5 years old with 29%.

This year, 27 outbreaks were reported, and 88% of confirmed cases are outbreak-associated. For comparison, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69% of cases were outbreak-associated.

With the largest of the outbreaks, the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) reported that measles cases grew to 753 on Tuesday. One percent, or fewer than 10 of the confirmed cases, are estimated to be actively infectious since their rash onset date was less than a week ago. Based on the most recent data, TDSHS has identified Lamar as the only county still experiencing an outbreak. The state now has 36 counties that have reported cases and has reported 39 cases outside of the outbreak.

For the past 25 years, measles has been considered eliminated in the U.S. because it has not continuously spread over a yearlong period. Measles would have to keep spreading through January 20 of next year for the U.S. to lose its elimination status, NBC News reported.

The resurgence of measles can be attributed, in part, to declining vaccination rates both globally and nationally. During the 2023-24 school year, less than 93% of kindergartners in the U.S. received the recommended two doses of the MMR vaccine, down from 95% during the 2019-20 school year.  

 As a result of the current outbreak, more people are now getting the measles vaccine. Between the beginning of the year and March 16, Texas gave at least 173,000 measles doses compared to 158,000 in the same time period last year, the BBC reported.

More than 120 are dead and about 150 others are missing in the catastrophic flooding that occurred in central Texas on the Fourth of July. This tragedy marks the deadliest freshwater flooding event in the U.S. since 1976 and the deadliest weather event in the country since Hurricane Helene last September.

Freshwater flooding, or riverine flooding, comes from rain and is different than storm surge flooding caused by wind pushing water onshore. In riverine flooding, streams and rivers exceed the capacity of their natural or constructed channels to accommodate water flow and water overflows the banks, spilling out into adjacent low-lying, dry land.

Texas has deployed over 2,100 personnel and more than 1,100 vehicles and equipment assets to help local officials and communities respond to and recover from the devastating flooding. More than 20 state agencies are currently responding to flooding threats across the state.

Here’s how the Texas disaster compares to other flooding disasters:

• Horrific freshwater flooding in July 1976 in northern Colorado is the last freshwater event to be so deadly, killing at least 139 people. 
• Hurricane Helene killed at least 250 people in September 2024, with 95 of those deaths directly related to flooding, CNN reported.
• The Fourth of July flooding ranks as the deadliest freshwater flood in Texas in more than 100 years. The greater San Antonia area in 1921 experienced nearly 40 inches of ran in about 36 hours and killed at least 215 people.
• Hurricane Harvey, the rainiest typical cyclone in U.S. history, drenched Texas with more than 60 inches of rain in 2017, caused extensive flooding, and killed at least 103 people directly or in its aftermath. Flooding was responsible for 65 of those deaths.
• More people have died due to the Fourth of July flooding in Texas than all the flooding related deaths recorded by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last year. In 2024, NOAA reported 89 people died. The running 30-year average is 113 deaths per year.