Mayor declares public health emergency following measles outbreak in Brooklyn's orthodox communities [View all]

[brooklynite]

Source: Brooklyn Paper

Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency at Brooklyn Public Library’s Williamsburg Branch Tuesday morning in response to the growing spread of the measles virus in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish communities, where nearly 300 people have fallen ill with the potentially fatal disease since October.

“We cannot allow this dangerous disease to make a comeback in New York City,” said de Blasio. “We have to stop it now.”

The mayor’s emergency declaration mandates that residents of four Williamsburg zip codes — 11205, 11206, 11211, and 11249 — must seek vaccination, or face Department of Health violations and fines totaling as much as $1,000 per unvaccinated person.

The emergency declaration follows a previously announced Department of Health exclusion order barring unvaccinated children from attending schools and day cares within both Williamsburg and Borough Park, and demonstrates a shift in the city’s focus to combating the disease in the northern Brooklyn neighborhood, where the majority of new measles cases have been discovered, according to de Blasio.

Read more: https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/42/15/all-emergency-measles-decleration-2019-04-12-bk.html