Florida has third most measles cases in the US, and the number is growing
PUBLISHED: February 27, 2026 at 1:04 PM EST | UPDATED: February 27, 2026 at 3:33 PM EST
Florida has the third-most measles cases in the country and is on track to be the second-highest.
According to the Florida Department of Health’s Reportable Diseases Frequency Report released this week, the number of diagnoses for 2026 jumped almost 25%, from 92 on Feb. 14 to 114 on Feb. 21.
Currently, Florida is the third state with the most measles cases so far this year, according to the U.S. Measles Tracker, a dashboard hosted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
But the state is only nine cases behind Utah, which has 123 confirmed measles diagnoses for 2026. Florida’s numbers lag by 5 days and are updated every Thursday; Utah’s cases are updated at least every Tuesday.
South Carolina, which has been the epicenter of an outbreak that originated in Spartanburg County, has the most confirmed cases with 653, according to the tracker.
In Florida, about three-quarters of this year’s cases, 82, are in Collier County, according to DOH. A measles outbreak was reported at Ave Maria University in the county in late January.
The “vast majority” of the university is vaccinated, and DOH is currently “on-site providing care and guidance,” according to the school’s website.
Other counties with reported measles cases this year are: Alachua, Broward, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Pinellas and St. Johns.
According to DOH data, approximately 81% of reported measles cases are among people 15 to 24, and 76 of the 114 cases were acquired within the state.
DOH’s reportable disease tracker does not display the vaccination status of measles cases.
Does anyone remember when measles was eradicated in America? No? Does the word “vaccination” ring a bell? Do the names Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Florida’s Ron DeSantis, and Joseph Ladapo sound familiar?
The next time you hear about someone coming down with measles, you Floridians know whom to blame for this:
- Pneumonia. As many as 1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.
- Hospitalization. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get measles is hospitalized.
- Encephalitis. About 1 child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis (swelling of the brain). This can lead to convulsions and leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.
- Death. Nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications.
- Complications during pregnancy. If you are pregnant and have not had the MMR vaccine, measles may cause a premature birth or a low-birth-weight baby.
- Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a very rare, but fatal disease of the central nervous system. It results from a measles virus infection acquired earlier in life.
In case you have forgotten: Before the vaccine (pre-1963), 3–4 million U.S. cases annually, 400–500 deaths per year; Nearly every child was infected by age 15.
The vaccine was introduced in 1963. Measles was virtually eliminated by the late 1990s, and was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.
Now, we have returned to the dark ages of anti-vaxx superstition.
Get it? Vaccination = almost no measles, no hospitalizations, no scarring, no deaths.
Republicans = Anti-science medical decisions = Illness, scarring, childhood deaths, and unaffordable healthcare insurance.
This isn’t rocket science, folks. Vote for fools and you pay the price.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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