New York State county declares measles outbreak state of emergency

A severe outbreak of measles has prompted Rockland County in New York state to declare a state of emergency.

The move has led to unvaccinated children being barred from public spaces.

Vaccination rates in the US have dropped steadily over recent years, due to discredited information that the vaccine causes autism in children, or religious or philosophical reasons.

The announcement follows other outbreaks of the disease in California, Texas, Illinois and Washington.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said “We will not sit idly by while children in our community are at risk.

“This is a public health crisis and it is time to sound the alarm.”

He went on to say that “resistance” had been encountered by health inspectors from local residents, which he said was “unacceptable and irresponsible.”

Dylan Skriloff, Rockland County Times editor, said “The first reports came six months ago, and each week we’ve had a new report with increased numbers.

“It’s become clear that it’s not abating, and the authorities… don’t want to accept this reality as the new normal.

“The rate of immunisation in the religious communities, for young people, it’s about 50-60%, which is not nearly enough.”

The barring order, which bans anyone unvaccinated under the age of 18 from public places, such as shopping centres, schools, places of worship and restaurants, will come into effect next week and last 30 days.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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