The United States recorded 5,412 confirmed measles cases as of Nov. 12, more than double the 2,289 cases reported for all of 2025, according to CDC figures cited by States Newsroom outlets and posted on CDC’s measles page^1,18. A Pan American Health Organization expert panel was reviewing whether the country still met measles-elimination criteria it has held since 2000^1,19.

WSVN, carrying CNN, reported that a source close to the process said the independent commission that reports to PAHO’s director determined the United States no longer qualified, and said The Wall Street Journal first reported that finding⁴. DW likewise attributed a PAHO revocation after 26 years to the Journal, citing people familiar with the matter¹⁶. The Philadelphia Inquirer, also citing the Journal, said PAHO no longer considers measles eliminated in the United States and that a PAHO spokesperson planned a briefing Tuesday¹⁵. CBS News headlined that the country has lost the status¹⁴.

ABC News, citing CDC data, said PAHO had not announced a determination as of Saturday and that the Department of Health and Human Services said Friday it would not prejudge the independent review¹⁷. CIDRAP said a PAHO decision was expected Nov. 17¹⁹. States Newsroom sites, including Michigan Advance posts after the WSVN item, still described the United States as poised to lose the status rather than as having lost it^1,9.

Elimination means interrupting measles transmission for 12 months or more^1,4. WSVN said the commission treats infection as endemic if the same viral strain is passed person to person for at least a year, based on genetic sequencing⁴. It cited a Utah public-health laboratory preprint describing one strain circulating more than a year and more than 600 cases between June 2025 and June 2026⁴. CIDRAP quoted Noel T. Brewer, chair of the U.S. committee reporting to PAHO, as saying genomic change between Utah cases suggests many infections are unrecorded¹⁹.

CDC listed 5,412 confirmed 2026 cases in 47 jurisdictions plus 18 among international visitors, 43 new outbreaks, and 96 percent of cases as outbreak-associated¹⁸. Stateline’s CDC tally put 58 percent of 2026 cases among people younger than 19, 96 percent among unvaccinated people, and 591 hospitalizations¹. CDC listed six 2026 measles-related deaths, subject to change, and said it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on a standardized death definition¹⁸. WSVN, ABC and CIDRAP put measles-associated deaths in state reports at 10^4,17,19.

Pennsylvania’s health department on Nov. 13 confirmed a seventh measles-associated death, an unvaccinated Montour County resident, and 1,542 cases in 46 counties, with 37 cases since Nov. 9 and 305 hospitalizations²⁰. The Inquirer said the state was investigating an eighth death and that New York and Wisconsin had reported three deaths between them¹⁵. ABC assigned the 10 state-reported deaths as seven in Pennsylvania, one in New York and two in Wisconsin¹⁷. CIDRAP said Wisconsin reported a second death, of a child in Grant County¹⁹.

Stateline said 39 states have MMR vaccination rates below the 95 percent level associated with herd immunity¹. CDC said kindergarten MMR coverage fell from 95.2 percent in 2019–20 to 92.4 percent in 2025–26¹⁸. ABC put 2026 kindergarten coverage at 92 percent versus 95 percent in 2019¹⁷. WSVN said two MMR doses reduce the chance of illness after exposure by 97 percent compared with no vaccination⁴.

Dr. Susan Kansagra of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials told Stateline, “It’s pretty clear we’re hitting one grim milestone after the other”¹. WSVN quoted former CDC immunization-center director Dr. Demetre Daskalakis as saying measles elimination is a vital sign for the public-health system⁴.

PAHO had not posted a public commission communique in the coverage reviewed here^1,17,19. What’s next is whether PAHO issues a formal finding, including the Tuesday briefing the Inquirer said a spokesperson planned, and how U.S. vaccination coverage and outbreak control change case counts^15,17,19.