Concerns over a potential increase in COVID-19 cases have been consistent during the last few summers, but summer 2025 also brought a renewed focus on measles outbreaks. The American Medical Association (AMA) recently highlighted the newest COVID-19 variant and measles in their AMA Update Series.
The 10-minute video update was moderated by AMA Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger, with expert opinions from Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, vice president of Science, medicine, and public health for the AMA. As Garcia stated in the update, “the new COVID variant that’s now spreading in the U.S. and other parts of the world is called NB.1.8.1 [Nimbus] …. Nimbus is a descendant of the Omicron variant … According to the [Centers for Disease Control] CDC, [Nimbus] now accounts for more than one third of cases here in the U.S.” Garcia noted that while COVID-19 cases have had increases over the summer since 2020, it’s important to stay up to date on case counts for 2025.
In an interview with the AmNews, Dr. Michelle Morse, MD, MPH, acting health commissioner and chief medical officer of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, stated that “there has been a lot of news coverage about the newest variant [of] COVID and we are continuing to watch that very closely and are always monitoring the variants that are evolving, but we’ve not seen a significant increase in cases or hospitalizations or deaths related to COVID.
“In fact, we’ve seen pretty stable to decreasing rates of hospitalization in recent weeks and months for COVID so [for] now, that is the case,” Morse added, referring to previous summer waves. “We do often see a summer wave of COVID-19. There is still the possibility that we could have a summer wave; we just don’t yet see evidence that we are starting to experience a summer wave of COVID right now. [We] still encourage everyone to make sure that they’re up to date with their COVID vaccines. [The vaccines] are safe and effective, and the most important thing is they’re going to keep you out of the hospital or from something worse. That’s kind of where we are with COVID.”
As it relates to measles, Garcia noted that in 2000, measles was officially eliminated in the United States, meaning no cases were spreading in the country. Since that time, the highest number of measles cases reported in the United States was 1,274 cases in 2019. As of July 14, 2025, 1,301 cases of measles have been reported in the United States.
In Garcia’s opinion, “this is a sobering reminder that our work in addressing vaccine-preventable disease is not done, and we’re certainly going to have much more to do to reverse this trend in the years to come.”
According to the New York State Department of Health, there have been seven measles cases so far in New York City as of July 2025, which is not considered an outbreak. According to Morse, “they are all in people [who] either had [a history of] international travel or were unvaccinated. We’re continuing to monitor very very closely to make sure that there are no outbreaks in New York City.
“We have no evidence that there’s a measles outbreak. We’ve only had isolated cases and no local spread of measles, which is extremely good news,” she said. “From our perspective, we’re
watching very, very closely what’s happening nationally with this record-breaking year of measles cases because of the outbreak that started in Texas and New Mexico . . .for now, for New York City, we have very high vaccination rates for the measles vaccine.”
If you are recovering from #COVID19 or experiencing #LongCOVID, you can call 212-COVID19 to receive specialty care, or visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/services/covid-19 to learn more about NYC’s COVID-19 Centers of Excellence.
For additional resources about COVID-19, visit www1.nyc.gov/site/coronavirus/index.page. COVID-19 testing, masks, and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid.
For details about measles, visit the New York State Department of Health site at https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/measles/.
You can also find resources on the NYC Health site: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/measles.page.
You can find resources for getting vaccinated at: https://a816-healthpsi.nyc.gov/NYCHealthMap/ServiceCategory/Vaccines.