New York county bans unvaccinated children from being in public after emergency measles outbreak

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Officials in Rockland County, New York, have declared a countywide State of Emergency after a measles outbreak that’s infected at least 151 people since October.

The declaration will bar unvaccinated children from going out to public places until they receive the vaccination against measles or the declaration expires after 30 days, the New York Times and WPIX-TV reported.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day says at a news conference that the state of emergency taking effect Tuesday night is intended to persuade parents to have their children vaccinated to reverse the trajectory of the disease’s spread.

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According to the Centers for Disease and Control, the measles are highly contagious and typically don’t show symptoms until one or two weeks after a person is infected.

As of March 21, there have been 314 confirmed cases of measles in 15 states this year, according to the CDC. Rockland County has had 48 of those confirmed cases this year.

Rockland County is a northern New York City suburb with more than 300,000 residents.

The county is experiencing New York state’s longest measles outbreak since the disease was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000. Health officials say the best way to stop the disease’s spread is a high vaccination rate in the community.

A federal judge this month denied a request from parents to let 44 unvaccinated children return to the Waldorf School in Rockland County.

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