South Carolina leapt into the new year with a growing Upstate measles outbreak. In its first 2026 measles update, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) identified nine new cases since Dec. 30.
The total count of reported illnesses in the state now sits at 185 cases. And of the 177 cases with a known vaccination status, 172 are in fully unvaccinated people. Quarantine numbers have continued to stick around the 200s — 223 people are currently in quarantine and three are in isolation.
Concentrated in Spartanburg County, 91.4% of people who have contracted the illness in the outbreak are children. It is a stark contrast from the age breakdown in other states experiencing a measles outbreak.
An outbreak currently exists along the border between Arizona and Utah. In 2025, 65% of Arizona's measles cases were in children, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. And in Utah, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported that 59.6% of its 2025 measles cases were in children.
They are not the only pair of states with border leaping measles cases. The North Carolina Department of Public Health reported a case of measles in Polk County, North Carolina the last day of December. The child was unvaccinated, spent time in Spartanburg and developed symptoms before Christmas.
The child has since recovered. Fifteen North Carolinians are still in quarantine, but the case is the lone confirmed cross-state illness related to the outbreak.
SCDPH will release another update Tuesday.
