State of emergency in New York
A county in New York, US, has declared a state of emergency following a severe measles outbreak, and barred unvaccinated children from public areas.
The order comes into effect at midnight today and will last for 30 days. It bans anyone who is under the age of 18 and hasn’t been vaccinated from places such as schools, restaurants and shopping centres in Rockland county.
Since October last year, 153 cases of measles have been recorded, and there are concerns that anti-vaccine parents are putting their and others’ children at risk.
Rockland county Executive Ed Day said: “This is a public health crisis and it is time to sound the alarm and take the appropriate action. We owe this to the residents of this great county, so we never ever have to go through this again.”
He said that parents will be held accountable if found to be in violation of the state of emergency and that they should have their children vaccinated. “We are urging them, now with the authority of law, to get their children vaccinated.”