The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported Thursday that the number of people who have caught the measles across the United States this week broke a 25-year record, with 971 confirmed cases in 26 states across the country.
And it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
The majority of the cases are still concentrated in New York City. As of May 29, there were 550 confirmed cases of measles in New York City diagnosed since September 2018.
“I can’t take my babies anywhere because it’s just not safe,” Shlomit B. told JewishPress.com in an interview Thursday evening. “They’re too young to be vaccinated and their health is too fragile for me to take the risk. You know what that means? Half a year without going to the gym even though they have babysitting, impossible to take them to the park to play with other children and closely limiting who we allow into our own home for the same reason. Nearly total isolation.”
Others say it more simply: ‘Anti-vaxxers’ deprive the rest of society of its right to personal health by insisting on their individual choice to defy a health department order to vaccinate against measles, which is a potentially deadly disease.
“If you live, work or reside in Williamsburg, you are now required to get vaccinated for measles, unless you are immune or medically exempt,” according to the website of the New York City Health Department.
As of May 30, there were 311 confirmed cases of measles in New York State outside of New York City, including 254 in Rockland County, 37 in Orange County, 17 in Westchester County, 3 in Sullivan County, 1 in Suffolk County and 1 in Greene County.