Measles has continued its historic resurgence in the United States this year, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting a second record-breaking year in a row. The total number of measles cases in 2026 has already surpassed last year’s total, according to CDC data posted on Friday. At least 2,318 cases have been reported with more than five months left in the year.

Just over halfway through 2026, the country has recorded more cases than in any other year since 1991, surpassing a milestone that was just topped in 2025, CNN reported. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but more cases have been recorded in the past 18 months than there have been in the previous 25 years combined, the news agency said. International health officials will assess when they meet in November whether the U.S. can still claim to have measles elimination status.

New cases are reported by the CDC each week, with new large outbreaks adding to others that have simmered since last year. South Carolina has reported more measles cases in 2026 than any other state with 670 cases. This summer, Virginia has become a new hotspot with 176 cases as of July 23. 

This year, 35 new outbreaks have started, and all but seven states have reported cases. Most cases (93%) are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, CDC data showed. While 7% of measles cases this year have required hospitalization, no deaths have been recorded. In 2025, 11% of measles cases required hospitalization and three people died.

Experts said the potential for measles outbreaks remains anywhere vaccination rates remain below 95%, a key immunity threshold for the highly contagious disease. 

The New York City Health Department released confirmatory culture test results for live Legionella bacteria in 34 cooling towers at 33 buildings on the Upper East Side as part of the investigation into a Legionnaires’ disease cluster in the area. Nine cooling towers have negative culture test results, with  culture test results for the remaining 140 cooling towers systems expected soon.

While culture testing is ongoing, all 34 cooling towers that tested positive for live Legionella bacteria have already undergone remediation and are fully cleaned, as are all buildings that previously tested positive for dead or live bacteria via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. As CMM previously reported, on July 14, the health department ordered an initial 76 buildings with cooling towers that returned positive initial PCR screening results to clean and disinfect their systems as part of the Upper East Side investigation. By July 16, all 76 confirmed they completed the required remediation. As of July 21, 82 cooling towers at 80 buildings have been ordered to clean and disinfect as part of the Health Department’s investigation, and all have completed remediation.

A list of addresses for cooling towers with a positive confirmatory test result are updated daily on the NYC Health Department website. As of July 21, 82 cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been identified. Five people have died.

“We have responded rapidly and aggressively to this to this Legionnaires’ cluster on the Upper East Side,” said NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin. “With two confirmed cases, we launched our investigation and directed every building with an initial positive test result to immediately clean and disinfect its cooling tower. These actions have saved lives. We believe that through our aggressive strategy of testing and remediation we have eliminated the source of exposure. We will learn more as our investigation unfolds and look forward to updating our existing policies and procedures to prevent future clusters. Right now, we are focused on identifying the source of exposure through laboratory analyses and holding accountable anyone found out of compliance with local laws.”