RedState covered Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's (D) attempt to show "leadership" and grandstand over two measles deaths in his state. Shapiro rushed to mount a press conference in the County of Lancaster, where the deaths allegedly occurred. Shapiro was quick to blame Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his "vaccine conspiracy theories," for the measles spread. However, Shapiro's rush to the microphones and to place blame, was premature.
It was soon discovered that one of those deaths was of an infant, as my colleague Teri Christoph wrote, and the cause was not measles, but a ruptured spleen. Also, it would have been difficult for vaccine hesitancy to be the reason behind why the baby was not vaccinated, because the measles vaccination is only administered after the child has reached the age of 12 months.
Two days after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro indicated in a press conference that two residents had died from measles, questions have only grown louder about how public health officials tied the deaths to a measles outbreak.
State public health officials who vaguely described the deaths as “measles-associated” have not shared details about the cases with the public, and refuse to revisit their findings in light of a conflicting conclusion by the county coroner.
The deaths reportedly occurred in Lancaster County, where Republican Commissioner Joshua Parsons has led calls for more transparency from the Pennsylvania Public Health Department.
[...]
The autopsy did not determine measles to be the cause of death, Lancaster County Coroner Steve Diamantoni revealed in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday night. The autopsy concluded the newborn died from laceration of the spleen, but did find measles antibodies were present in postmortem testing, Diamantoni told the paper. The death occurred during a home birth last Thursday, Diamantoni, an elected Republican, told WGAL.
As the reporting from the Daily Caller News Foundation above indicates, presumptive and premature are perfect words to describe the "ish" show of a press conference that Shapiro put on, thinking it would burnish his presidential creds.
As real journalists and health investigators worked to rip apart Shapiro's faulty narrative, it was revealed that the second measles death may not have even occurred.
The Lancaster County Forensic Center has only handled one autopsy involving measles in recent days, that of an hours-old newborn baby.
Our County Coroner who has statutory authority to determine cause and manner of death under the law says the infant did not die of measles. There is no current evidence of any second death. Your headline is false. Retract it now. https://t.co/zwL3p04VPt
— Commissioner Josh Parsons (@CommissionerJP) August 27, 2026
As Christoph wrote, HHS Secretary Kennedy rightly ripped Shapiro a new opening. Then, more evidence unfolded that showed Shapiro was all up in the Kool-Aid and didn't even know the flavor. Enter Lancaster County Commission Josh Parsons, who penned a lengthy X post (linked below), where he brought receipts on how Shapiro may have cooked the books in order to craft this crisis. Parsons called BS, and slammed the governor for his duplicity and lack of transparency.
Golly, how the truth will out, and with the truth now outpacing Shapiro's poorly woven web, Shapiro's grand plan to grandstand fell through. But Shapiro is a Democrat stalwart, and in typical party fashion, Shapiro tried to deflect, back pedal, and then blame the press for spreading misinformation at a news conference.
WATCH:
Questioning known liars is now the new conspiracy theory pic.twitter.com/ykSULyjRYJ
— Jefferey Jaxen (@JeffereyJaxen) August 28, 2026
Shapiro called legitimate questioning of his words and the PA Dept. of Health's falsified records, "misinformation." Then he tried to deviate from those purported measles deaths by claiming that things are now, "much worse." According to Shapiro, now "over 445 Pennsylvanians" have contracted measles. A spread that covers over 31 counties.
So, let's do the math: 31 out of 67 counties is less than half the commonwealth. Then, 445 individuals out of the 13.1 million people in Pennsylvania is roughly 0.0034 percent of the population which has contracted measles.
By what measure is this an epidemic? If the PA governor cannot manage this manufactured crisis, then he has no business assuming he can run for President of the United States.
As Christoph concluded:
Meanwhile, Shapiro is probably looking for his next tragedy to exploit in order to get the national spotlight to shine on him. If this was supposed to be his audition for the 2028 national stage, it certainly was a memorable one – for all the wrong reasons.
Commissioner Joshua Parsons' X post is well worth the read, and if this, and other Shapiro missteps continue to have legs, he can kiss his presidential aspirations goodbye.
This is a long post, but I think it is important for anyone who wants to get to the bottom of what is happening here in Lancaster County.
— Commissioner Josh Parsons (@CommissionerJP) August 27, 2026
On Tuesday Aug 25th Governor Shapiro and officials from the PA Dept of Health and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health held a press…
This is a long post, but I think it is important for anyone who wants to get to the bottom of what is happening here in Lancaster County.
On Tuesday Aug 25th Governor Shapiro and officials from the PA Dept of Health and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health held a press conference in Lancaster County and announced two “measles-associated deaths.” (See my previous posts for more details on this.)
I have sought to keep an open mind and be objective, but the evidence now leads to the conclusion that there is deception happening here.
This is a matter of great public importance. The Governor claimed there were two deaths in Lancaster County – the first deaths from Measles in the U.S. in 35 years. We have a right to know the facts on this. You cannot drop a bombshell like this and then essentially say all the information around it is top secret. The only way for government to have trust with citizens is through transparency and honesty. That is especially important since what happened during Covid.
Asking questions and following the facts is not “pro-measles” or “anti-science.” It is what we all should do. The following is an attempt to follow the evidence that we currently have available to us.
Ideally, in a functioning healthy system journalists would assemble this case and ask objective questions of the people who had the press conference rather than attack the people who are asking legitimate questions about the press conference. But that is not necessarily the system we are living in, so I will endeavor to do it.
Let me walk you through the evidence that we have as I would have done for a jury when I was a prosecutor trying criminal cases in court.
1. The press conference: Officials at the Governor’s press conference used the term “measles-associated” (see press conference and accompanying press release) but clearly framed it as deaths FROM measles. The Governor stated that these are the first two measles-associated deaths in the U.S. in 35 years. People died FROM measles 35 years ago. Therefore, it would not be accurate to make that statement unless these current cases were in fact being presented as deaths attributable to measles in some significant way. This appears to be a carefully crafted attempt to overstate the case, while also maintaining some later wiggle room, i.e. “associated” to muddy the issue if it became clear these were not in fact measles deaths. This indicates deception.
2. The desired media response: The media, in large part, dutifully took their cue and reported two deaths “from” measles in Lancaster County. The New York Times: “Two unvaccinated people in Pennsylvania have died from measles, as a large outbreak there continues to spread, the state’s Health Department reported on Tuesday morning.” ABC News: “BREAKING: Two people have died in Pennsylvania from measles, the state health department said Tuesday. Both unvaccinated.”
Importantly, the Governor, his administration, and other officials at the press conference did not correct these stories. The message had been conveyed as apparently it was intended.
Note – it is clear now that these stories are not true and any credible news source would retract them rather than just shrug and move on.
3. The lack of transparency: Officials provided virtually no background information about these “measles-associated” deaths. DOH said to “protect the privacy of the individuals and their families, DOH will not release any additional details that could personally identify these individuals and their families,” however, they did release the medical information other than the fact that the two were “unvaccinated.”
Importantly, the law DOES allow information to be released that does not violate privacy – i.e. more demographic and background information. I contend it was very important to do this when making such a big announcement, which made national news. Officials provided no corroborating evidence to their claims.
4. The story unravels: I then conducted an investigation and learned from the Lancaster County Coroner that there were zero reported measles deaths in Lancaster County. (See earlier posts.) I announced this publicly to be transparent. Neither the Governor’s Office nor Penn Medicine replied to my questions. The law requires deaths from contagious disease such as measles to be reported to the Coroner.
The Coroner then released information that an infant had died during a home birth and the infant tested positive for measles but did not die of measles. (See Coroner statements to LNP, WGAL, and Philadelphia Inquirer.)
5. State officials then point to deceased infant: State officials, who previously refused to give any information on the two deceased individuals (other then they were unvaccinated) then pointed to the infant as one of the cases. (See DOH statement of 8/26/27.) PA Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen released a statement on 8/26/27 stating that she “thoroughly reviewed the case investigation information and sadly can confirm that the were two measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County…”
6. County Coroner and Forensic Patholgist report contradicts state officials: The County Coroner and the Forensic Pathologist, both of whom have many years of experience, rule out the claim that the infant can be one of the cases. “Lancaster County Coroner Steve Diamantoni said the cause of death was not from the measles. The newborn died shortly after birth from a laceration of the spleen, although measle antibodies were present in postmortem testing…” (Coroner interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer.)
Moreover, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy indicated the cause of death was not related to measles (Coroner interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer), thus ruling out the theory that has been raised by some that the spleen was enlarged or otherwise susceptible to this injury due to measles exposure.
7. The death investigation: Importantly, the County Coroner is THE person who has statutory authority to rule on cause and manner of death in Pennsylvania. The Coroner said “state officials had not contacted him personally as of Wednesday about the two Lancaster County measles-associated deaths.” (Coroner interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer.) Because this was a home birth where the infant died, and because the County Coroner and the forensic pathologist were the ones investigating this case – and came to the conclusion it was not measles related, – what evidence did the PA Secretary of Health “thoroughly” review? (Statement of Dr. Debra Bogen on 8/26/27.) There would be no hospital records in this case. The Coroner investigation WAS the investigation. But they never personally consulted the Coroner. So what other evidence is she using to determine this death was “measles-associated” to such a degree that they could report to the world that this was one of two measles deaths in Lancaster County?
8. Deception: Also important is the fact that officials emphasized in the press conference that the two individuals were “unvaccinated.” Now, technically that would be true for a baby who was born at home and immediately died. But there would be no possible way for the baby to vaccinated. The framing of this, or underlying assertion in it, seemed to be to indicate that the deceased person was unvaccinated by choice. This shows intent on the part of officials to deceive. Announcing a technically true statement, but keeping secret the context which would show there was no possible way for the baby to have been vaccinated before its death is deliberately deceptive.
In the law, when trying cases in court, there is a jury instruction called “false in one, false in all.” It is the from the Latin term “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.” It means that if you find a witness lied about a material fact, the jury may choose to reject the rest of the witness’s testimony. That seems appropriate here.
9. Deception: Similarly deceptive is the following - after my investigation revealed that the County Coroner has zero deaths from measles, PA DOH said: “Not all deaths are referred to a coroner under Pennsylvania law.” (DOH Statement on 8/26/26.) This is technically correct. For instance, an elderly patient who dies of natural causes would not necessarily be referred to the County Coroner. However, the law does require a death known or suspected to be due to contagious disease be reported to the coroner. Thus, the coroner should have a record of any measles death in Lancaster County.
Again, this is an apparent deliberate deception. Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.
10. The second case: We still know nothing about the second reported death. There has not even been an effort, to my knowledge, to explain this death or provide any details whatsoever – beyond “unvaccinated.” Again, under the law any death due to measles would be required to be reported to the County Coroner. He has no report.
Given the other apparent deception here it is fair to ask whether the facts of the second case have been materially manipulated similar to the first case, or whether the second case exists at all.
I think the people of Lancaster County deserve to have transparency over whether there were actually two measles deaths or not.
As Shapiro's presidential star, along with his gubernatorial term, wanes, he is also hard at work trying to return COVID-level powers to the PA Health Department.
Governor Josh Shapiro wants to strip the title of “mother” from women that give birth to a stillborn baby.
— Meg Brock (@MegEBrock) August 27, 2026
He wants them to be called a "postpartum individual” instead.
It’s one of the cruelest parts of his proposed regulation that erases women from Pennsylvania’s health code. pic.twitter.com/yd6hOKWKCA
This latest move slips in a proposed language change into health regulations which diminishes motherhood:
A 502-page regulatory overhaul quietly proposed by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro would strip the words “mother” and “pregnant woman” from the state’s health code entirely, replacing them with gender-neutral terminology pushed by transgender activists.
Women who give birth to stillborn babies would no longer be called mothers under the proposed changes. Instead, they’d be labeled “postpartum individuals.” The term “pregnant woman” disappears too, swapped out for “pregnant or postpartum individual” throughout the massive document announced on August 8.
The language changes are buried within a sweeping proposal that would also hand Shapiro’s Department of Health dramatic new powers. The regulatory overhaul includes provisions allowing officials to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates under the banner of “disease control measures.” Since the Department of Health reports directly to the governor’s office, these changes would give Shapiro and future governors the ability to unilaterally implement far-reaching policies across the commonwealth.
Who thought this was a good idea? Nationwide, the whole transgender ideology is falling apart at the seams, but Shapiro is trying to push language that eradicates gender specificity into the health code. Independent journalist Salena Zito signals that this proposed change will receive lots of comments and potentially lots of backlash.
This was proposed by the PA Dept of Health under the Shapiro admin (rather than passed as a Democratic legislative bill).
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) August 28, 2026
The proposal was published August 8, 2026; public comments are open through September 21, 2026.
I suspect there will be an abundance of public comments https://t.co/6deJPItbTE
All Shapiro's moves to position himself for higher office seem to be falling flat. What this reflects is his political instincts are about as bad as former VP Kamala Harris' speechifying.
