HealthDay Reports: Last Year's NYC Measles Outbreak Has Lessons for COVID Crisis
A measles outbreak in New York City last year that sickened 649 people could provide clues on how to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Last Year's NYC Measles Outbreak Has Lessons for COVID Crisis
TUESDAY, June 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that could help guide the response to the coronavirus pandemic, new research shows that a measles outbreak that struck New York City last year could have been much worse if the city had not launched a vaccine campaign.
The measles outbreak -- the largest in the United States in nearly three decades -- ultimately sickened 649 people. Most were children in a Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish community.
It all began fall of 2018 when an unvaccinated child returned home from a trip to Israel infected with the measles virus. Low vaccination rates in the local Orthodox community allowed the infection to spread.