In the year 2000, the U.S. declared that measles had been eliminated in the country. That means that within the nation, there had been zero incidences of measles in a specific geographical area.
It’s still possible for someone to bring the virus back from travels, but due to herd immunity, outbreaks were almost non-existent for years.
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Except that herd immunity isn’t as strong as it once was, due to the anti-vaccination movement.
And the more contagious the disease is, the more people need to be vaccinated to meet the threshold of herd immunity.
In the case of measles, that threshold is 93-95%.
That means that within a community a minimum of 93 out of 100 people must be vaccinated for herd immunity to be effective.
In parts of New York where the outbreaks have been most prevalent, vaccination rates are as low as 60%.
That’s a huge gap and since an unvaccinated person has a 90% chance of getting infected after coming in contact with the virus, no wonder the outbreak has ballooned.
Add in the fact that the virus can survive in the air for as long as two hours and you have a recipe for disaster.
While for most healthy individuals, measles is a miserable couple of weeks, the potential complications, like pneumonia and encephalitis, can be deadly.
About 10% of those infected also get ear infections that can cause permanent hearing loss.
And that’s for otherwise strong and healthy people.
With all that taken into consideration, it’s not really a surprise to hear that Rockland County, NY has declared a state of emergency.
As of this writing, there have been 153 confirmed cases of measles in the county, and while they have managed to increase vaccination rates, there are still people who are stubbornly anti-vaxx and refusing to take part in fighting the virus.
So the county is fighting back by banning anyone under the age of 18 and unvaccinated from all public spaces.
The ban took effect at midnight March 26, 2019 and will remain for 30 days. The only way to get the ban lifted is to get the MMR vaccine or provide medical proof that you cannot be vaccinated.
While police won’t be frisking people for vaccination records, parents of minors found to be violating the ban will face six months in jail and/or a $500 fine.
“We will not sit idly by while children in our community are at risk,” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day.
“What we’re doing here is trying to change a trajectory that’s going in the wrong direction,” he continued , “There’s something called a greater good here and we’re trying to do the best we can in society to make sure that everyone is OK.”
With Easter and Passover on the horizon, they’re hoping this measure will curb the outbreak so that people can celebrate normally.
They want people to be able to gather together without fear of spreading the disease even further.
Which seems like a pretty good goal to me.
h/t: WPIX 11 New York
