16
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 24, 2019
BY COLIN MIXSON
Department of Health offi cials on
March 14 announced that leaders
of fi ve Williamsburg yeshivas violated
an emergency order prohibiting
non-vaccinated students from
attending school amid a growing
outbreak of the measles, which already
infected at least 21 youngsters
at a sixth yeshiva after educators
let a sick kid in class.
The city’s chief physician reiterated
the importance of inoculating
children against the potentially
fatal illness, warning that
the disease will continue to claim
new victims while Kings County
youngsters remain unvaccinated.
“As the city’s doctor, and a pediatrician,
I am very concerned
that children without the measles
vaccination are at unnecessary
risk for serious, and potentially
fatal symptoms related to measles,”
said Health Commissioner
Dr. Oxiris Barbot. “The outbreak
is not over, and we will continue
to see additional cases as long as
unvaccinated students are not
properly excluded from attending
school.”
The fi ve new offending yeshivas
include:
• Bnos Square of Williamsburg
at 382 Willoughby Ave. between
Bedford Avenue and Spencer
Street.
• Bnos Chayil at 712 Wythe Ave.
between Keap and Hooper streets.
• Bnos Chayil at 345 Hewes St.
between S. Fifth Street and Broadway.
• Tuferes Bnos at 585 Marcy
Ave. between Myrtle and Vernon
avenues.
• Sieche Kinder at 808 Myrtle
Ave. between Marcy and Nostrand
avenues.
And in addition to fi nding unvaccinated
students, city health
inspectors found kids infected
with measles in classrooms at
three of the fi ve. Health Department
offi cials slapped all of the
schools with a commissioner’s
order, which could lead to fi nes
if the yeshivas’ staff do not follow
the so-called “exclusion order”
issued in December to stem the
spread of the disease.
It is currently too early to tell
whether the schools’ indiscretions
led to any additional measles
cases, according to Health Department
spokesman Michael Lanza,
who said the audits that uncovered
the violations occurred earlier
this month.
The recent announcement came
weeks after city health offi cials revealed
that educators at Williamsburg’s
Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov
on Wilson Street allowed a mini
outbreak to plague the school, by
permitting an unvaccinated, presymptomatic
EARLIER OFFENDER: The measles virus infected 21 students at Williamsburg’s
Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov after its educators permitted an unvaccinated, pre-symptomatic
kid infected with the virus to attend class. City health offi cials on March
14 announced inspectors discovered that leaders of fi ve other neighborhood yeshivas
allowed non-vaccinated youngsters in their classrooms amid a growing
outbreak of the disease. File photo by Colin Mixson
student infected with
the virus to attend class.
The borough-wide measles outbreak
— which offi cials traced
to a Brooklyn resident who contracted
the virus in October while
visiting Israel, where the illness
infected more than 1,000 people —
has spread to some 157 local victims,
including 137 children, all of
whom are members of the Orthodox
Jewish community, according
to Lanza.
The highly contagious airborne
pathogen produces symptoms
including fever, cough, and
a runny nose, and can cause diarrhea,
ear infection, pneumonia,
encephalitis, and death — with
about one of every 1,367 kids infected
dying due to fatal complications
from measles.
Symptoms can appear anytime
from seven to 21 days following exposure,
according to the Health
Department.
Viral violation
More yeshivas defy city orders, allow unvaccinated
students in class amid growing measles outbreak
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