Measles Outbreak: Rockland Nears 200 Cases

NEW CITY, NY — There were 194 confirmed cases of measles in Rockland County as of April 19. The appellate court decided to uphold the suspension of Rockland's state of emergency, but the issue is moot, said County Executive Ed Day.

While officials are disappointed with the ruling, they had already rescinded the Measles Outbreak Emergency Directive, which banned all unvaccinated minors from public places and pivoted to implementing new strategies and Commissioner’s Orders to address the outbreak.

"We will not be deterred from protecting the health of all county residents and will continue to evaluate our strategies as we methodically move forward," Day said. "Unfortunately, we do expect our case numbers to continue to rise despite the best efforts of our Department of Health; there are currently 194 confirmed cases of measles. I thank the people of Rockland who have now received 19,015 MMR vaccinations since the beginning of this outbreak. It is through your efforts that we will stop this outbreak once and for all."

County Attorney Thomas Humbach said, "We are surprised by the Appellate Court’s Decision and Order denying the County’s appeal of Judge Thorsen’s temporary restraining order, especially in light of Judge Knipel’s decision upholding NYC’s mandatory vaccination order and recognizing that there is in fact a measles epidemic in parts of this State.

"We will keep moving forward with the County’s cases before Judge Thorsen, where we have filed motions to dismiss.

"We also will assist the Commissioner of Health with enforcing her new orders, which include a new Communicable Disease & Exposure Exclusion Order, requiring those diagnosed with or exposed to the measles to be excluded from indoor and outdoor places of public assembly, and a new school exclusion order, requiring schools to exclude unvaccinated students who have no medical or religious exemptions on file."

Unvaccinated children continue to be the most vulnerable population — four out of five people who have been infected with the virus since the outbreak started in October.

Vaccination rates for confirmed measles cases in Rockland County as of April 18:

• 80.8% have had 0 MMRs
• 5.2% have had 1 MMR
• 3.1% have had 2 MMRs
• 10.9% unknown status

Age groups for the confirmed measles cases in Rockland County as of April 18:

• Less than 1 year old: 14.0%
• 1-3 years: 28.0%
• 4-6 years: 15.0%
• 7-18 years: 26.9%
• 19+ years: 16.1%

Officials have said they are worried that the outbreak will spread even further during the spring holidays.

Rockland County is tracking every case and all exposed or infected people must stay out of indoor and outdoor public places.

New York City declared a public health emergency and the city's health department has already closed down one Orthodox Jewish school for not complying with vaccination orders.

New York City reported 359 cases as of April 18 in Brooklyn and Queens. Orange County reported 20 cases in its outbreak April 19. Westchester County confirmed eight cases on April 10, most of whom were children exposed in either Rockland or Brooklyn.

SEE:

• Measles Outbreak: Rockland Orders Certain People To Stay Home
• A Man Traveling From Brooklyn Started Michigan's Measles Outbreak
• Measles Outbreak Is 2nd Biggest Since U.S. Eradicated Virus: CDC