An Amish family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, lost a baby boy. They did not know his death had become news across the country.

They live off the grid. That is how The Atlantic put it. A reporter had to go out and tell them in person.

The Atlantic published their story on Sunday. The magazine used fake first names to protect them. It called the parents John and Anna. The family asked for that. They wanted their real names kept out of it.

Here is what they said happened.

Anna was pregnant. Several of her kids caught measles over the summer. Then she caught it too. She got very sick. She ran a high fever. A clinic put fluids in her arm. They went in through an IV. That was Aug. 13.

Her son was born the next day. He did not live.

Their midwife told them the measles played a part. That is what the couple believes.

The county coroner sees it another way. Dr. Stephen Diamantoni runs that office. He said his team did an autopsy on a baby. The baby tested positive for measles. He said the cause of death was a tear in the spleen. He said the doctor who did the exam "did not feel it was related to measles." He said measles "was not a contributing factor to the death."

But measles did land on the death certificate. It went in Part II. That part lists other things that add to a death. They are not the main cause.

John told The Atlantic he had not heard about the torn spleen. He said the coroner's office told him the case was still open. The Atlantic asked Diamantoni why he had not called the parents. The coroner said "there may be lots of factors that go into when a notification is made." He did not say more.

Pennsylvania is in the middle of a big outbreak. The health department counted 460 cases this year. That count is as of Aug. 28. About 210 of them are in Lancaster County.

Last week the state said two people in the county had died with measles. Both were unvaccinated. It was the first time the state tied a death to measles in 35 years. The state would not give their ages. It said it wanted to protect the families.

The state uses careful words. It calls the deaths "measles-associated." Its own statement spells out what that means. There was lab or outbreak proof of measles. But the coroner or the doctor who signs the papers "may not" have called measles "the immediate cause of death."

Then a fight broke out.

Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke in Lancaster County on Aug. 25. "We hope and we pray that those deaths will be the last," he said. "I want to be clear. This illness and death from measles is completely preventable."

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed back the next day. He wrote on his X account that the state moved too fast.

"The announcement appears to have been premature, and the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor's hopeful staffers," Kennedy wrote. He said the county coroner had no record of any measles deaths.

Kennedy also called the governor's words a "weaponization of infectious disease fears for political gain." He said Shapiro was "gaslighting" the public. He said most of the drop in state shot rates came earlier. He said it happened under Joe Biden.

Shapiro answered back. "There's real-life consequences to spreading misinformation," he said. "There's real-life consequences to scaring people and not relying on actual doctors."

None of that gives the family their son back.

The parents told The Atlantic they are not part of any push against shots. John got his. Anna did not. Neither did the kids.

"Anna told me she wasn't sure why her parents didn't get her any shots," the article said. "Choosing not to immunize their children wasn't a political statement, and they didn't make the decision after extensive research. They just didn't do it."

The couple have lived on the same 45 acres for 20 years. They have 13 children. They first heard about the outbreak about a month ago.

Doctors say measles is hard on pregnant women. The CDC lists them as a high risk group. The CDC says it can bring on pneumonia and even death for the mother. The agency says it can also lead to pregnancy loss, early birth and low birth weight.

Babies cannot get the MMR shot until they turn 1 year old. Until then they lean on the people around them. The CDC counts babies as a high risk group too.

Dr. Debra Bogen is the state health secretary. She said the MMR shot "is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles."

Valley families can check their own records at any clinic or pharmacy. Missed doses can still be caught up.

El Tejano covered the Pennsylvania outbreak earlier this summer, when the state had 84 cases: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/measles-hits-84-cases-in-pennsylvania-texas-families-should-act-now/