High Rates Of Unvaccinated People Causes Medical Emergency
In an unusual step to protect others, unvaccinated people under age 18 are banned from public places in Rockland County, New York, as of midnight Wednesday, according to John Lyon, director of strategic communications for County Executive Ed Day.
“Public places are defined as: a place where more than 10 persons are intended to congregate,” the news release says, and includes synagogues, churches, schools, restaurants, stores and public buses.
The declaration is an effort to contain an outbreak of measles that began in October. Currently, 153 cases have been confirmed in the county, and the sixth month of the outbreak, the longest outbreak in the United States since before measles was declared eliminated in 2000.
“We’re not punishing the people who are doing the right thing already and following the rules. We just want to encourage everyone to do the right thing so we can stop this outbreak,” Lyon said. The step is “extremely unusual. [We] don’t believe it’s been done anywhere in the country before.”
“State law gives health departments authority to broadly implement control measures in response to outbreaks,” Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote in an email to CNN.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that is prevented with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
By: Maytinee Kramer
