A judge quits New York County ban on unvaccinated minors in public places due to measles outbreak

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The controversial ban came into effect last month to contain a measles outbreak that began in October. Nearly 170 cases have been confirmed in the county.

Judge Rolf Thorsen scheduled a hearing for April 19 and said the county was temporarily prevented from enforcing the ban.

"And the children of the petitioners are allowed to return to their respective schools immediately and otherwise to gather in public places," he wrote.

The decision was taken in response to lawsuits filed by parents of local schoolchildren, the latter having described the arbitrary and capricious prohibition and claiming that the county had exceeded its authority legal. The lawsuits stated that the declaration had prevented "children from attending crèches and schools and banned their movement and forbade them to gather and gather in public places".

The outbreak began when an unvaccinated resident was infected during his visit to Israel and returned with the disease. He mainly touched the observant Jewish neighborhoods.

"The county is disappointed that the court has not considered this epidemic of measles, unprecedented for 30 years, as a crisis sufficient to justify the need for the declaration of the state of emergency", said county attorney Thomas E. Humbach.

He said the county was evaluating its next possible legal steps.

The judge wrote that the small percentage of cases in Rockland County did not meet the definition of an epidemic required by law authorizing emergency declarations.

The city of New York reported nearly 260 cases in the wake of the outbreak, also in Orthodox Jewish communities, according to the city's health department.

The ban was put in place on March 27 "to encourage everyone to take the necessary steps to stop this epidemic," said John Lyon spokesman at the time from the Rockland County Executive, Ed Day. He called the ban "extremely unusual".

Measles is a highly contagious virus that is prevented by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The CDC recommends that the two-dose vaccine be administered first between 12 and 15 months, then between 4 and 6 years of age.

The epidemic in Rockland County is in its seventh month, according to Lyon, which said it was the longest in the United States since the declaration of measles elimination in 2000.

Public places include synagogues, churches, schools, restaurants, shops and public buses, depending on the county.

Children who are aware of the vaccination schedule but who are not fully vaccinated against measles because they are not old enough are exempted from the order.

The ordinance does not apply to people over 18 so that residents can get to work, but unvaccinated adults are also encouraged to get vaccinated, according to county officials.

Nearly 17,000 vaccines were administered in the county during the outbreak.

The outbreak has mostly been isolated in a few communities in Rockland County, just north of New York, but the entire community is at risk, Day said, pointing to complications that have occurred among patients, including premature delivery. ; hospitalizations.

On March 28, the CDC reported nearly 387 measles cases in 15 states this year.

CNN's Lauren del Valle, Julia Jones and Debra Goldschmidt contributed to this report.

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