What to Know
- The New York City Health Department has closed a child care program amid the city's measles outbreak in Orthodox Jewish communities
- The health department on Monday said the Williamsburg preschool repeatedly failed to provide access to medical records
- Health officials say 329 cases of measles have been confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak last October
The New York City Health Department has closed a child care program amid the city's measles outbreak in Orthodox Jewish communities.
It's the first closure since health officials ordered residents of one Brooklyn neighborhood to be vaccinated for measles.
The health department on Monday said the Williamsburg preschool, United Talmudical Academy, repeatedly failed to provide access to medical records. It says the school will not be allowed to reopen until it submits a "corrective action plan" approved by the department.
Health officials say 329 cases of measles have been confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak last October. Most of the cases are children under 18 and have been reported from Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn.
There have been no deaths associated with the outbreak.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency last Tuesday amid the worst outbreak in New York City since 1991.
The declaration came the day after the New York City Health Department ordered all ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools in a neighborhood of Brooklyn to exclude unvaccinated students from classes during the current measles outbreak.
The health department previously said that any yeshiva in Williamsburg that does not comply will face fines and possible closure.
New York City was not the only location that implemented an emergency order.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day enacted a 30-day order on March 26 that banned unvaccinated people under 18 from gathering places including schools, stores and churches.
A state judge issued a preliminary injunction against the county's emergency order April 5.
Supreme Court Justice Rolf Thorsen ruled in favor of several dozen parents challenging Day's order, part of efforts to stop a measles outbreak that has infected more than 165 people people since October.
Local
Civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman called Day's action "arbitrary and capricious."
Officials in Rockland County plan to appeal a judge's order that lifted the ban on unvaccinated children in public places.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has since weighed in on the measles outbreak saying legislation that would end the ability of parents to object to vaccinations for their children on religious grounds is "legally questionable."
