The Health Department announced today that it has closed a school in Williamsburg for failing to comply with an Order of the Health Commissioner in response to the current measles outbreak.
Central UTA Boys Division (762 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, NY 11249) was closed today for failing to exclude staff and students who did not have documentation of immunity. The school also received violations for not having an adequate staff to student ratio and for not providing Health Department inspectors with vaccination and attendance records in the time allotted.
The school will not be allowed to reopen until the Health Department reviews and approves a submitted corrective action plan that addresses the lapses in complying with the Commissioner’s Order.
The Health Department had previously closed nine schools—not including the program shut today—for failing to comply with the Commissioner’s Order. After submitting a corrective action plan, all nine have been authorized to reopen under Health Department monitoring.
“School staff, parents, and health care providers need to continue playing their role in bringing this outbreak to an end,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot. “We’ve seen our weekly case counts decline, but the reality is, this outbreak is not over, and the Health Department will continue to use all the resources and strategies available to us. We urge anyone who can get vaccinated to do so.”
Current Case Count
To date, 588 cases of measles have been confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak last October. 437 cases (74%) have occurred in Williamsburg (ZIP codes 11205, 11206, 11211, 11249), which has been under an Emergency Order issued April 9 requiring those who live or work in these ZIP codes to have been vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR). A small number of cases have occurred outside of these neighborhoods but have, to date, not resulted in sustained transmission of measles.
In Crown Heights, a case of the measles was confirmed at the Bais Chaya Mushka School.
A 9-month-old infant was diagnosed with the measles this month at the school, “who has more than likely exposed many others,” Dr. Rosen said.
The school has been working with the Department of Health and has informed all students who are not vaccinated that they may not come to school.
Vaccination Progress
Since the April 9 Emergency Order, 51,124 MMR vaccinations have been administered to children 6 months to 18 years citywide, a 38% increase when compared to the same time period last year. Of those immunizations, 3,844 vaccines were administered to children in Williamsburg, a 99% increase in that neighborhood compared to the same time period last year.
Individual Summonses
In addition, 173 individuals have received summonses for being non-compliant with the Emergency Order since the City began issuing summonses last week. 68 of those have been cancelled as the individual presented proof of immunity or got vaccinated. Any person receiving the summons is entitled to a hearing, and if the hearing officer upholds the summons, a $1,000 penalty will be imposed. Failing to appear at the hearing or respond to the summons will result in a $2,000 fine.
To stop the spread of measles in New York City, the Health Department on April 9 ordered adults and children ages 6 months and older who live, work or go to school in ZIP codes 11205, 11206, 11211 and 11249 receive a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine within 48 hours. If non-compliant, the Health Department announced it would issue a civil summons to those in the affected ZIP codes who had not been vaccinated as of April 12. For more information, New Yorkers can visit the Health Department’s Measles page.
So glad the school is on top of the situation and not taking any chances. Happy the non vaxxers are excluded, even if its for a few days. Poor children missing end of year presentations/programs because of parents’ decisions:(
It feels eerily like Nazi Germany.
…that the Jews who were in Nazi ghettos and concentration camps, suffering from diseases like typhus and so forth, would have welcomed vaccinations against said diseases, and would give short shrift to your conspiracy theories. I’m also fairly certain that they would rightly pillory you for your chutzpah in comparing what they went through to your self-inflicted problems. Get a grip, learn the difference between facts and junk science, and learn to make an actual argument rather than lazy comparisons to Nazism.
Me’am Loaz, Parshat Ki Sisa Please read it. A Jewish town was struck w/a plague, so they called a great Torah Sage/Rabbi. Did he demand that the Yidden run to take vaccines? No, he gathered 4 of the wisest, most G-d fearing Jews to say Ketores at the 4 corners of the town. They fasted and prayed and said the Ketores at the 4 corners of the town and the plague went away and everyone was healed. A bas kol declared that all the Yidden must still do teshuva for what caused the plague in the first place. We must… Read more »
Which schools in Crown Heights do not accept the “Religious Exemptions” of vaccines?
The media loves tarnishing the reputation of the Jewish people all over the world especially religious Jews. Why don’t they write about the crime rate among certain groups if minority’s as well as diseases like AIDS spread by other specific communities. But no. They love making Jews into monsters. Syria can kill a half million people but if A Jew in Israel builds an Extention to his home in Yehuda and Shomron it’s against world peace.