Crawford County has confirmed its first measles case since 2019 and is now among 44 Pennsylvania counties with cases in an outbreak that has reached 1,338 confirmed infections, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said Oct. 23. The department added 21 cases since its Oct. 21 update and now counts 255 hospitalizations and five measles-associated deaths this year.
The Crawford case matters less for its size than for its location. Warren County has reported 13 cases, Mercer County 24 and Venango County one, while Ashtabula County, Ohio, just across the state line, has reported 44, the Erie Times-News reported. For families in Meadville, Erie and nearby towns, the outbreak is no longer only a story about Lancaster County. It has reached their corner of the state.
