The number of people confirmed with the measles jumped roughly 20% between April 4 and April 11, making 2019 the second highest-number of cases reported since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there have been 555 individual confirmed cases of measles since the start of the year in 20 states. That’s 90 more people than the week prior.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington have all reported cases of the disease.
Concern over the rapid spread has prompted officials in some areas, such as upstate New York, to ban unvaccinated children from public places.
The anti-vax movement is being blamed for the outbreak as some parents opt against vaccinating their children from preventable diseases. New York is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in decades, and Washington also has a serious ongoing measles outbreak, which has hit unvaccinated young children under the age of 10 particularly hard.
2014 was the worst year for measles in recent memory, with 667 cases. That number seems likely to be topped this year.
That’s prompting people to line up for inoculations, even among anti-vaxxers.