New York Gov. Hochul Declares ‘State of Emergency’ After Polio Found in Another County’s Wastewater Samples
The declarations makes a nice distraction from New York’s covid and and monkeypox response.
We wrote the state of New York reported the first polio case since 2013, and wastewater samples from New York City indicated genetically similar samples were present in the wastewater.
Now, as another New York county reports polio virus in sewage samples, Gov. Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency.
The governor’s declaration came the same day local authorities on Long Island said recent testing of wastewater in Nassau County turned up positive traces of the polio virus. That county joins Rockland, Orange and Sullivan in detecting the virus in sewage samples.
Broadening the state’s vaccination efforts is a cornerstone of the emergency order. The declaration expands vaccine administrators to include pharmacists, midwives and EMS workers, Hochul’s press release said. The order also requires healthcare providers to pass along immunization data to aid the health department’s oversight.
“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said Friday. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.”
The Nassau County executive planned to hold a briefing Friday afternoon following the recent testing of wastewater that turned up positive traces of the polio virus.
The declaration is not being issued because anyone else has been reported to have contracted polio, even in its more severe form. It allows more flexibility in administering the vaccine and equips public health officials to prevent more infections.
The order allows emergency service workers, midwives and pharmacists to administer the polio vaccine. The declaration also requires health care providers to send polio immunization data to New York health officials so that they can determine where in the state to target vaccination efforts.
…Officials said they wanted to see the polio vaccination rate rise above 90 percent. State data counts children who have received three polio immunizations before their second birthday as vaccinated.
Polio can cause mild or flulike symptoms, but the disease can also be disabling and life-threatening. It mainly affects infants and children under 5, but anyone who is unvaccinated can contract it. Polio is contagious and spreads from person to person, typically through contact with the fecal matter of someone who is infected. There is no cure for polio but widespread vaccination has proved effective.
However, the declaration allows Hochul to distract from some infectious disease failures. To begin with, there are still, on average, seven covid deaths daily in the state, despite all the lockdowns, mandates, masking, and other regulatory inanity implemented by state and local officials.
Recent drama has also been about new, mask-optional policies on New York City subways, buses, and regional trains.
The messages, in MTA’s trademark yellow, urged people to respect anyone wearing a mask, or choosing not to — and also gave a jokey thumbs-up to improperly worn masks, incensing New Yorkers and health experts who saw it as a thumb in the eye to people who endured being an early global epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Whoever designed your poster should be fired. It’s public endangerment and mask misinformation!!” said Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist, in replying to MTA’s tweet about the change.
Critics of the new policy say it puts immunocompromised people at risk. They maintain that it’s too early to drop masking mandates, noting that omicron and its BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants recently spurred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to urge people to get new booster shots
New York subway's new 'you do you' mask policy angers health experts https://t.co/eRqMolRCac
— nprextra (@NPRextra) September 9, 2022
Additionally, New York City has been a hot spot for monkeypox. The city reported nearly 3,000 cases from mid-May by the end of August and is touting vaccination appointment openings.
New York City is continuing to expand access to the monkeypox vaccine, opening a brand new site in the Bronx Friday as it plans to release another 16,000 appointment openings, including for second doses.
The new vaccination clinic in Tremont is for first-dose walk-ins only and will be able to serve up to 100 people a day, city health officials say. It is located at 1826 Arthur Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457, and its hours of operation are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Health officials said they’d work with community-based groups on referrals.
All city-run monkeypox vaccination sites are open on a walk-in basis for those needing first doses, though health officials recommend people make appointments. Appointments must be made for second doses, officials said, and right now, those are only available to people who were first dosed on or before July 23.
As there have been nine years between polio cases, I suspect there will be no significant polio outbreak this year and that Hochul will point to this as a victory in her upcoming campaign to keep her seat.
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Comments
Okay then. Shut down NY. But give Republicans a chance to get out before you do. That should really help the Dems in November.
All ten of them?
Polio in 2022? The disease disappeared for over a half a century. This is why immigrants went through Ellis Island and not unchallenged across the southern border.
And other fun diseases, like the new incurable strain of TB. TB is bad enough when you can cure it, but this is a nightmare. And transmission is airborne.
Best to stay out of those sanctuary cities…
“And other fun diseases.”
We are taking a big chance with these invaders. Russians are not a threat, but Russian roulette is.
Are you vexxxed? Are you at a risk of being waxxxed? Then you must be vaxxxed, NOW (no pun intended, maybe).
“This whole concept that
a good guy with a gundoctors and “The Science™” will stopthe bad guys with a gunlong-understood threats to our health, it doesn’t hold up. And the data bears this out, so that theory is over.”Just recycling another Hochhul speech from September 1. Back atcha, Kathy.
Polio did not come to NY across the southern border. The strain being found in the water is vaccine-derived, meaning it came from people vaccinated with the oral vaccine. That is completely normal and expected, except that in the USA we stopped using the oral vaccine around 20 years ago, so it’s probably from immigrants or visitors from some other country where they still use it, which is pretty much all of them. Back in the day the fact that the oral vaccine was slightly contagious was considered a good thing, because it meant that immunity to polio was slightly contagious — some unvaccinated people would catch immunity. And yes, some unvaccinated people would get sick, but that was likely to happen anyway.
We stopped using that vaccine here because the disease had become so rare that the slight risk became more than the benefit, so we switched to an injected vaccine that’s slightly safer. To the dismay of small children all over the USA, or at least it would be if they knew about it. In other countries the kids are still getting the good shot, the shot that’s sweet instead of hurting, and that poses a very small risk to other unvaccinated people. And that’s what got into the NY water and infected one unvaccinated adult.
That is poster photo for what stress looks like.
Sorry. The copyright is already held by Evil.
I can see the trial lawyer TV ads. “Have you or a loved one died or been seriously injured by drinking NYC sewage water? A new law provides compensation for your loss. Call our injury helpline now.”
Of course, if NYC pulls a Jackson MS, that actually may come to pass.
Just one day after the anniversary of 9/11 when the Federal Government failed to screen immigrants and visitors causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of damage, we have yet another example of the fact that they learned nothing. So now instead of islamic terrorists, we have disease.
Control the borders is a necessity proven time and time again and yet we don’t. So the panic ensues, a crash inoculation program for those too stupid to actually take polio vaccine on their own and the Dem Governors freak out and try to cut their political chops on a manufactured and wholly avoidable crisis. Wonderful.
What is the point of having clean water and sanitation if the left just invites unvetted invaders into the country.
Do we need disease diversity too?
Diversity (i.e. numeric, evolutionary fitness, boys and girls), yes. Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), and other residuals of social progress, probably not.
“we have yet another example of the fact that they learned nothing”
Here’s a compilation.
Again, this has nothing to do with illegal immigrants, so you are just spouting ignorant bigotry.
Since polio is spread by fecal matter, does this mean that everyone will have to wear a mask on their butt?
Well, just a Dementia Joe Depends…
Just maintain your Poise…
Aside from planned parent/hood in New York, Michigan et al, Covid-19/20/21/22 was also spread through the sewer, through back… black holes…. whores h/t NAACP, and transgender/homosexual male pride parades. People, upon risk of cancellation, need to wear masks, a condom, and avoid places of dark.
Welcome to the Sanctuary Empire State.
Welcome to the new normal, where every malady becomes a “public health emergency” and every “solution” is a “vaxx.”
I guess people weren’t popping enough pills to suit Big Pharma, so we have to get them hooked on some other pharmaceutical crap – by any means necessary.
Plenty of time for a polio pandemic to shut the country down before the mid-terms…
So, according to hochul, people aren’t going to be vaccinated for polio (debatable but whatever). And her solution is…to increase the number of people who can give out shots…to the people who aren’t going.
How democrat, lack of demand means to increase supply.
It’s Democrat SOP. After all, demand for tyranny is surprisingly low.
People aren’t getting their kids vaccinated because it’s too much trouble and they don’t think it’s that important any more. So the solution is indeed to make it easier for them to get it done by increasing the number of people who can do it, and to reach out to affected communities to encourage them to get it done.