On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro stood at the microphone for a news conference about the growing measles outbreak in Pennsylvania.
Two deaths that officials say were related to the infectious disease were announced. The number of cases hit 393. (It is now 460, growing by 86 over the last seven days.)
“We hope and we pray that those deaths will be the last,” Shapiro said. “I want to be clear. This illness and death from measles is completely preventable.”
Clarity is good in situations like this. Clarity, unfortunately, is also in short supply.
Despite the governor’s comments, the circumstances surrounding the two deaths are not quite as straightforward as they seem.
Is it one of the most contagious diseases known? Yes. Are we seeing an outbreak unimaginable in recent decades? Yes.
But the language surrounding the two deaths has been imprecise.
The deaths, both unvaccinated individuals in Lancaster County, were announced as “measles-
associated.”
That sounds like the patients died of measles. Did they? Or did they die while diagnosed with measles?
It took a TribLive reporter a while to narrow down the specifics. The Lancaster County coroner, for instance, said there were no measles deaths. He later acknowledged measles was a contributing factor on at least one death certificate.
To break this down, you have to know how death certificates work.
They can acknowledge both manner and cause of death. Manner refers to classifications such as accident, homicide or natural. Cause could be heart attack, blunt force trauma or pneumonia. But beyond the primary cause, additional contributing factors could be listed. Perhaps someone died of injuries sustained in a car crash, but secondary factors might include congestive heart failure and emphysema.
This puzzle box of causes can make a definitive answer challenging. Someone could die with measles, complicated by measles, but on paper, not of measles.
It is a labyrinth of definitions, interpretations and attributions that can be legitimately claimed on one side and just as legitimately parsed on the other.
That makes it perfect for twisting into political knots.
“I spend a large part of every week explaining this virus — to reporters, to audiences and to people who are not ideologues but are genuinely unsure what to believe. This week made every part of that job harder,” wrote Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in a piece on Substack.
That came because Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made it even more political, accusing Shapiro of “gaslighting” people, and then criticizing the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that has been the standard for decades.
Cases have popped up in Pennsylvania since January, and since May they have mushroomed month by month, putting 83 people in the hospital. None of those diagnosed has been vaccinated.
The data, in its cold, clean precision, paints its own picture. It does not need to be coaxed into partisan compliance by state or federal leaders.
Measles danger comes from its transmissibility. It is easily spread and easily contracted.
Because of that, it is important that people understand the danger, the reality and the facts. They need to trust what they are being told.
The more the information is painted with a political brush, the less that will happen.
And to borrow from the governor, any confusion about those facts should be completely preventable.
Daily and weekly updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Get news alerts first, right in your browser.
Daily and weekly updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Support our journalism and get an ad-free experience on all your devices.
1-800-909-8742
Fax (724) 779-8743
210 Wood Street
Tarentum, PA 15084
