Pennsylvania Commissioner Questions Governor's Framing of Measles Deaths Amid Outbreak

<p>A Pennsylvania county commissioner is challenging Governor Josh Shapiro’s announcement of two measles-associated deaths, as the state’s outbreak grows to 460 confirmed cases across 31 counties. Joshua Parsons, one of three Lancaster County commissioners, accused Shapiro of being intentionally "deceptive" during a press conference earlier this week, when the Democratic governor referred to two "measles-related deaths" in the county.</p><p>"Well, the governor, in the press conference, they said they were measles-associated deaths, but it was framed, and very much the underlying assertion to it, was that these were measles deaths," Parsons told Fox News Digital.</p><p>During a Tuesday press conference alongside Dr. Debra Bogen at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Hospital, Shapiro announced the deaths of two unvaccinated individuals. "Today, we see the consequences of a lack of immunizations in the first measles-associated deaths that our Commonwealth has seen in 35 years," Shapiro stated.</p><p>Shapiro urged Pennsylvanians to get vaccinated for measles during the press conference, saying, "I want to be clear: This illness and death from measles is completely preventable." Parsons contended that Shapiro presented the deaths as being directly caused by measles.</p><p>Parsons noted that national media outlets framed the deaths as being from measles. The New York Times, in a Tuesday article, reported the headline, "Two Unvaccinated People Died From Measles in Pennsylvania, Officials Say." However, according to conversations he had with the Lancaster County Coroner, Parsons claimed that nobody in the county has died from measles this year.</p><p>"The coroner reported that they don't have… they had zero measles deaths or measles associated-deaths reported. And in Pennsylvania if you have someone who dies of a contagious disease, that does have to be reported to the county coroner," Parsons explained.</p><p>The coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamoantoni, has publicly stated in interviews with local media that he had not been contacted by either Shapiro or the Pennsylvania Department of Health and was surprised to learn of the press conference. "The coroner had one case where there was an infant who died in a home birth, and he's talked about this publicly, and that infant died with measles but not of measles. At the time of the press conference, the state did not indicate who these two cases were or anything about them. Subsequently, they came out and said that this infant is one of the ones they're counting," Parsons said.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Department of Health, in a statement to Fox News Digital, asserted that it consistently referred to the cases as "measles-associated." The department stated, "PA DOH did not describe the cause of death of either individual. As PA DOH has repeatedly made clear since Tuesday, the Department consistently used the term ‘measles-associated’ in relation to these two deaths. That term means laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present — in both cases there was a positive measles test — but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death."</p><p>The coroner acknowledged the presence of measles in the infant who died but stated that neither he nor the pathologist who examined the infant believed measles to be the cause of death. According to Parsons, the infant died of a lacerated spleen. He also mentioned that he has received no information about the second person referenced by Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.</p><p>Parsons suggested that the deaths may not be attributed to measles. "The Health Department put out a statement in reply to some of these questions. And I think it just raised more questions, but one line they had in there was that not all deaths in Pennsylvania have to be reported to the county coroner, and that's true. If you have, for example, an elderly person who dies of natural causes, that does not have to be investigated or reported to the coroner," Parsons said.</p><p>"But if you have someone who dies of an infectious disease, that does have to be reported. So if there is a second death in Lancaster County, that should have been reported," he added. "Now, there's an unlikely scenario that someone contracted measles here and then died outside the county, and that would be reported to another county coroner. And if that's the case, which I think is highly unlikely, if it is the case, they should state that."</p><p>The Pennsylvania Department of Health, in response to inquiries about why it did not contact the coroner, stated that "Pennsylvania Statutes Title 16 outlines when a coroner would be called in to investigate a death. While DOH collaborates with county coroners in various ways, including death reporting, DOH does not regulate or oversee coroner operations, nor are coroners involved in most deaths within their county."</p><p>Kennedy criticized Shapiro’s comments, stating, "Governor Shapiro's unseemly rush to Lancaster County to convene a national press conference and his giddy delight in announcing two measles deaths was a morose commentary on the contemporary political dialogue." He further added that the announcement appeared to have been premature and that the deaths may have been altogether fabricated.</p><p>Kennedy and Shapiro reportedly had a heated phone call just minutes before Shapiro’s Tuesday announcement, during which Shapiro told Kennedy he did not want the federal government’s help with the ongoing measles outbreak.</p><p>As of Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 460 measles cases confirmed across 31 counties in the state, marking the nation’s largest measles outbreak since 1991, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority of infected individuals in the state are unvaccinated, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.</p><p>Parsons noted that much of the outbreak is concentrated in religious communities whose members choose not to get vaccinated. "There's certainly measles here," Parsons stated. "There are in other Pennsylvania counties as well. And a lot of the focus has been on the plain population, Amish and Mennonites. Many of them choose not to get vaccinated. And by and large, they're going about their life and they're living their life and just continue on. So, we certainly have resources available for people if they wanna get vaccinated, but I believe strongly that's each individual's choice," Parsons concluded.</p><p>In response to a request for comment, Shapiro’s office referred Fox News Digital to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. A representative from the Times stated that the newspaper is "confident in the accuracy of our story." Fox News Digital also contacted the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services for additional comment.