Utah has spent more than a year fighting a measles outbreak that, unlike any other the United States has seen in the post-elimination era, has refused to stay contained to a single community or region. As of the most recent state health department update, the outbreak has now infected people in 22 of Utah's 29 counties — a pattern of geographic spread that public health officials say has no recent parallel in U.S. measles history.
More than 680 people have been infected since the outbreak began in June 2025, according to ABC News and PBS NewsHour. Nationally, the CDC reports 2,170 confirmed measles cases in 2026 as of July 2, 2026, making this the second consecutive year of historically severe measles activity in the United States.
