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Close to 6,000 unvaccinated children have been pulled out from schools by an executive order in a suburb of New York City and nearly 17,000 doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (M.M.R.) vaccine were given in 26 weeks. The M.M.R. vaccine, when given in two doses, is about 97 percent effective against measles. A growing measles outbreak in Rockland County, with a population about 300,000, already has 153 cases of measles since October with about a third of those coming in 2019. The measles outbreak is largely concentrated in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Rockland where vaccination rates tend to be lower and anti-vaccination literature has spread, public officials advised.
On Tuesday, the county executive, Ed Day, declared a state of emergency effective at midnight that would bar children and teenagers who are not vaccinated against measles from public places. The measure will last one month. As The New York Times reports, the declaration highlighted the desperation of public officials to control the spread of a disease they have so far struggled to halt.
“We must not allow this outbreak to continue indefinitely or worsen again,” Mr. Day said. “We will not sit idly by while children in our community are at risk.”
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by the measles virus. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than 40 °C (104 °F), cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Measles is among the most contagious of the infectious diseases. The virus can live for up to two hours in the airspace where an infected person has breathed, coughed or sneezed, and up to 90 percent of nonimmunized people who are exposed to the virus will also become infected, according to the C.D.C.
Measles cases were proclaimed eliminated in the United States in 2000, but a handful of outbreaks have spread in recent years. There have been 314 confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2019, as of March 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While county officials say they won’t go around asking kids for proof of vaccination, they will fine parents with up to six months in jail or $500 or both if it’s discovered that their unvaccinated kids went out to those public spaces.
While most experts agree with the measure, some public health law experts expressed concern that the county’s order could infringe on civil liberties. For instance, Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said he found Rockland County’s emergency order deeply problematic. “This is virtually imprisonment of a child, and certainly significantly restricting the child’s liberty,” Mr. Gostin said.
