FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2019
Contact: John Lyon 845-638-5645

New City, NY, - County Executive Ed Day issued a third declaration of a local State of Emergency (see attached), renewing the second declaration that was due to expire at 11:59 pm, Saturday, May 25, 2019. The renewed State of Emergency took effect at 12:00 am, May 26, 2019, and will remain in effect until 11:59 pm, June 24, 2019.

"21,582 MMR vaccinations have been given in Rockland since October 2018. This number has increased by 4,624 since the declaration of the original State of Emergency on March 26, 2019; clearly showing how much progress we are making against this outbreak, despite the confusion caused by the various court rulings," said County Executive Day. "This outbreak, however, is still a public health emergency and we need the entire community's help to end it. We urge everyone to follow the Health Department's advice; get vaccinated against the measles, and if you are sick with measles please stay home. We will continue to do everything within our power to combat this deadly disease and bring it to a stop once and for all."

There is no new Directive as part of the renewal of the State of Emergency. It does not contain the Measles Outbreak Emergency Directive, prohibiting unvaccinated persons from entering indoor places of public assembly which was rescinded (4/16). However, the Rockland County Department of Health (RCDOH) will continue to enforce the two Commissioner's Orders that were announced in April. This State of Emergency serves to reaffirm the actions taken by RCDOH and support their efforts to combat this outbreak.

The first Order is a RCDOH Communicable Disease & Exposure Exclusion Order, which is a Commissioner's Order, and which has three components:

1. Any person diagnosed with the measles or exposed to a person diagnosed with the measles as evidenced by laboratory evidence or a measles tracing investigation conducted by RCDOH must be excluded from indoor and outdoor places of public assembly located in Rockland County for a period of up to 21 days.
2. The individual is prohibited from going to or being present at any place of public assembly for any period of time with exceptions for medical care, emergency situations and court appointments.
3. Individuals are required to cooperate with RCDOH public health authorities by providing information regarding details of one's illness, exposures and contacts.

Failure to comply can result in a $2,000 fine per violation per day. Parents and guardians served with this order on behalf of an exposed minor are responsible for compliance by their child.

43 of these Orders have been issued to those exposed to measles and to those confirmed to have the disease. To date no fines have been issued.

The second Order involves students who are required to have the proper MMR immunizations and to date have not demonstrated that the vaccines have been administered. New York State (NYS) Public Health Law Section 2164 and New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) Title 10, Subpart 66-1.6 requires mandatory immunizations to be in school unless the student has a medical or religious exemption.

The second Order is a Commissioner's Order, which has two components:

Pursuant to an audit conducted by NYSDOH/RCDOH, schools/day cares are required to exclude from school/day care students who have been identified as having neither a valid certificate of immunization on file for the MMR vaccines or laboratory evidence of immunity against measles, mumps and rubella, nor a valid medical or religious exemption on file.
Schools/day cares are required to submit to RCDOH a notarized affidavit sworn under penalty of perjury or if unable to take an oath, a notarized affirmation affirmed under penalties of perjury, identifying students who have been excluded from the school/day care.

Failure to comply can result in a $2,000 fine per violation per day. These Orders were delivered to 24 schools, affecting 969 students. To date no fines have been issued.

Last week (5/24/19) a Commissioner's Order that required schools with a less than 95% MMR vaccination rate, within the geographical area affected by the measles outbreak (zip codes 10952 and 10977), keep un- or under-vaccinated students home until 21 days have passed since the last confirmed measles case in Rockland, which was issued in 2018, was challenged by Attorney Michael Sussman of behalf of parents and students attending the United Talmudical Academy of Monsey in State Supreme Court in front of Judge Thorsen.

"On Friday, the courts recognized that the Commissioner of Health's orders were entitled to deference at this stage of the case; a temporary restraining order was not granted to the plaintiffs. We look forward to continuing to defend the right and proper actions taken by the Commissioner of Health if this case proceeds forward," said Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach.

READ: Third Declaration of Local State of Emergency

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