MAX
COURIER L M BR B G IFE, MAY 10–16, 2019 27
Measles spreads
to Sunset Park
BY COLIN MIXSON
City health offi cials identifi
ed two unvaccinated
Sunset Park kids as the
fi rst New York City public
school students to fall
ill with the deadly measles
virus on Tuesday.
The students, along
with another infected
Sunset Park resident, all
reported spending time
in areas where the measles
virus has been active.
Fortunately, the children,
who were enrolled
in school under a religious
exemption that
allows kids to attend
class without a vaccination,
were not in school
while infectious, according
to one of the city’s
top health offi cials, who
noted that high vaccination
rates in city schools
should ensure the safety
of students.
“We are confi dent
there is no increased
risk of exposure at New
York City public schools
both because the recently
diagnosed children
from Sunset Park
were not in school while
infectious and because
of the high vaccination
rates of students in
these and all NYC public
schools,” said Deputy
Commissioner Dr. Demetre
Daskalakis.
Since Brooklyn’s fi rst
measles case was discovered
in a member of
the borough’s Orthodox
Jewish community traveling
from Israel in October,
Health offi cials
have identifi ed 466 cases
of the highly contagious
pathogen, which has left
34 people hospitalized,
including nine patients
who required intensive
care.
To combat the outbreak,
Health Commissioner
Oxiris Barbot issued
an emergency order
mandating all residents
of four Williamsburg
zip codes — 11205, 11206,
11211, and 11249 — where
the vast majority of measles
cases have been discovered,
vaccinate themselves
and their children,
or else face stiff fi nes.
So far, the Health
Department’s so-called
SUNSET SYMPTOMS: Two
Sunset Park public school
students have contracted
the measles virus, according
to city health offi cials.
Getty Images
“disease detectives”
have issued summonses
to 84 people for failing to
comply with the health
order, requiring them to
attend an administrative
hearing and pay a $1,000
fi ne if the violation is upheld.
Failing to attend
the hearing results in
an automatic $2,000 penalty.
A group of fi ve Williamsburg
parents fi led
a lawsuit against the
city in Kings County Supreme
Court last month
for the right to not vaccinate
themselves and
their children, but Judge
Lawrence Knipel swiftly
dismissed the case on
April 18.
This as the largest
outbreak of the measles
that New York City
has experienced since
1991, according to Barbot,
who reiterated the
effi cacy and safety of
the measles-mumpsrubella
vaccine, which
has been in use within
the United States since
1963, before which
roughly 3-4 million
Americans fell ill with
measles annually.
Measles is a highly
contagious airborne
pathogen that 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.