Rockland County, New York will declare an immediate state emergency because of the ongoing measles outbreak.
From midnight, March 27 anyone under the age of 18 and unvaccinated against the measles will not be allowed in public places until they get MMR (measles, mumps and rubella ) vaccination or they have to be barred from the public places until the declaration expires.
There are have been 151 confirmed cases of measles in the Rockland County, as of March 21. The declaration was given under the New York state executive law and it will expire in 30 days. The declaration was given by Rockland county executive Ed day.
The state has to take this decision because measle is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people close to that person will also become infected.
Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said, “We continue to encourage everyone to be up-to-date with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine to help protect them in case of any future exposure to measles in Rockland.”
Dr. Ruppert added, “Measles is highly contagious, so anyone who is not protected against measles is at risk of getting the disease, and they may spread measles to people who cannot get vaccinated because they are too young or have specific health conditions.”
Rockland County Executive, Ed Day said that he will be holding a press conference at 2 p.m. to discuss the state of emergency.