Hochul declares state disaster emergency as measles cases grow across rural New York

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency in response to the growing number of measles cases across rural areas of New York and neighbouring states, according to a statement reported by Bloomberg Law Bloomberg Law.

The state has logged a growing caseload outside New York City this year: three laboratory-confirmed measles cases were recorded in Chautauqua County in 2026 alone, local radio station WRFA reported, and New York posts updates on its state measles dashboard each Tuesday, covering cases outside New York City through the previous Saturday Medical Daily.

The declaration comes during an exceptionally heavy measles year nationally. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 3,659 confirmed cases across the country in 2026 as of 24 September, including two deaths, according to Medical Daily’s reporting on the CDC figures Medical Daily.

The state declaration follows an unusually broad resurgence of measles, a disease declared officially eliminated in the United States in 2000 AP via Pulse Ghana. New York’s state health commissioner, Dr James McDonald, said in August that the state would continue to be guided by science on immunisation, noting that “with measles cases on the rise across the country, now is not the time to confuse the public” New York State Department of Health.