A child in New York’s North Country died after contracting measles, the first death in the state from the viral disease in 30 years, health officials announced Monday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said the death was a signal that public health protections were eroding as a growing number of families forgo vaccinations.
The child died in Lewis County, which is northeast of Syracuse and has recorded 15 measles cases this year, according to the health authorities, who shared few details about the case.
“I am heartbroken to learn that a child in Lewis County has died after contracting measles,” Ms. Hochul said in a statement.
The governor linked the death to Trump administration policies that she said had undermined public confidence in pediatric immunizations.
“This is New York’s first measles-related death in 30 years, a devastating reminder of what’s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses,” Ms. Hochul said.
Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, was once nearly vanquished from the United States but has made a dramatic comeback in recent years. Nationwide, 4,852 measles cases have been recorded this year. That’s more than twice as many as in 2025, which saw the highest number of measles cases in more than a quarter-century.
New York is in the midst of a significant measles outbreak, with at least 178 cases this year, most reported since August. The cases are concentrated in about 10 counties upstate.
Amish communities, where vaccination rates tend to be lower, have been particularly hard hit. At an earlier point in the outbreak, a county health official in Cattaraugus County in western New York had said that about three-quarters of the upstate cases were within “Plain communities,” a term used to describe Amish and Mennonite groups that emphasizes the unadorned nature of their lives.
A number of Amish communities in New York are locked in a long-running legal battle with the state Health Department over whether children in one-room schoolhouses must be vaccinated. The U.S. Supreme Court had signaled its interest in the dispute, which has major implications for New York’s strict law on school immunizations. Unlike many states, New York does not allow schoolchildren to be exempt from vaccine requirements for religious reasons.
Some Amish parents say they oppose school vaccine mandates for religious reasons, saying that they must put their faith in God, which is in conflict with them putting their faith in vaccines. Many believe that salvation requires that they live in tightknit religious communities, free of worldly influences.
Concerned about the possibility of stigma, public health officials have been reluctant to say much about whether the outbreak in New York is still predominantly among Amish and Mennonite groups, or is spreading more broadly.
The clusters of cases in Amish communities in New York appear linked to far larger outbreaks in Amish communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Measles poses a particular risk to children, especially infants who are unvaccinated. Known for its distinctive rash, a measles infection can cause a range of dangerous complications. Up to 5 percent of children with measles get pneumonia, and one child out of a thousand will develop dangerous swelling of the brain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Trump has issued executive orders calling for American children to be immunized against fewer diseases. He has said that his motivations include concerns over whether vaccines are linked to autism, though dozens of studies have found no link.
Mr. Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is waging a broad campaign against vaccines. His department has canceled contracts and grants for some vaccine research and has begun studies exploring possible connections between vaccines and various health problems.
More parents are opting out of vaccinating their children, a trend that predates the Trump administration. About 4 percent of kindergartners across the United States received a nonmedical exemption for at least one vaccine during the 2025-26 school year. That was an 18 percent increase over the previous year.
A smaller percentage of adults today believe it’s “extremely important” for parents to have their children vaccinated than a generation ago, according to surveys. Public confidence in vaccines took a deep hit during the coronavirus pandemic, as some people grew suspicious of the health authorities and resentful of being forced, in some parts of the country, to get a coronavirus shot to keep their job or to be able to go to restaurants or other gathering spots.
The C.D.C. recommends that children receive their first immunization against measles at 12 to 15 months and a second dose between ages 4 and 6, but before starting school. The vaccine known as M.M.R. contains protection against the measles, mumps and rubella. In Lewis County, where the child died, about 78.7 percent of children have had their first M.M.R. dose by the age of 2. That is relatively close to the state average of 80.9 percent.
The measles virus is spread through virus-laden droplets expelled when someone sneezes or coughs. The droplets can hover aloft in the air indoors for up to two hours, posing a risk to anyone who is unvaccinated.
The health authorities in Lewis County said that, as of mid-October, the county had recorded 15 measles cases, all in people who were unvaccinated. It was not immediately clear if Lewis County has had additional cases.
A month ago, the county’s public health director, Ashley Waite, said that all the county’s measles cases were in the town of Lowville, according to a local news account.
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