New York declares disaster emergency after polio detected in several counties
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, declared a disaster emergency on Friday and said the state was stepping up its polio-fighting efforts after the virus was detected in the wastewater of yet another county in the New York City area.
Health officials began checking for signs of the virus in sewage water after the first case of polio in the US in nearly a decade was identified in July in Rockland county, close to the city.
The latest detection involved a wastewater sample collected last month in Nassau county on Long Island.
The sample is genetically linked to the polio case from Rockland and provides further evidence of expanding community spread, state health officials said.
The polio virus had previously been detected in wastewater in New York City and three counties to its north: Rockland, Orange and Sullivan.
Hochul declared a state disaster emergency that allows Emergency
Medical Service (EMS) workers, midwives and pharmacists to administer polio vaccines and allows doctors to issue standing orders for the vaccine.
Data on immunizations will be used to focus vaccination efforts where they are needed the most.
“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” the state health commissioner, Mary Bassett, said. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real. I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all.”’
The statewide polio vaccination rate is 79%, but the counties of Rockland, Orange and Sullivan had lower rates.
Officials have said that it is possible that hundreds of people in the state have gotten polio and don’t know it. Most people infected with polio have no symptoms but can still give the virus to others for days or weeks.
The lone confirmed case in New York involved an unidentified adult who was unvaccinated.