Measles was reported to be spreading rapidly in New York and Pennsylvania. New York declared a state of emergency after more than 100 people were infected in one week. The measure allows emergency workers to act more quickly, including by speeding up testing and distributing vaccines. Pennsylvania had recorded more than 1,000 measles cases this year, making the outbreak one of the largest there since the early 1990s. Nearly 200 patients had been hospitalized and five had died. Health experts linked the outbreaks to declining vaccination rates in the United States. Major outbreaks had also been reported in Texas, Utah and South Carolina since early last year.