--- title: New York County Bans People with Measles from Visiting Public Places description: Rockland County, N.Y., has banned people diagnosed with measles from visiting public places and is keeping unvaccinated kids out of school. canonical: https://time.com/5558943/rockland-county-measles-emergency/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-26T20:20:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T00:14:31.000Z article:section: Health og:title: New York County Bans People with Measles from Visiting Public Places og:description: In an effort to stop its outbreak og:url: https://time.com/5558943/rockland-county-measles-emergency/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt385148804f433109/6989475b096a94284b6a4cff/measles-vaccine-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Vaccination for measles at Moscow's No39 children's outpatient clinic og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New York County Bans People with Measles from Visiting Public Places twitter:description: In an effort to stop its outbreak twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt385148804f433109/6989475b096a94284b6a4cff/measles-vaccine-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New York County Bans People with Measles from Visiting Public Places > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=e1b86ddc-e2de-444a-8486-54932fb897fa&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Ideas: Why You Should Absolutely Get Vaccinated [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Ideas: Why You Should Absolutely Get Vaccinated](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1ekKbynQ.m3u8) (2:52)  _Published 2019-02-15. TIME Ideas: Why You Should Absolutely Get Vaccinated_  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:14 AM UTCPublished: Mar 26, 2019 8:20 PM UTC  A medical staff worker with a syringe containing vaccine for measles and mumps. A medical staff worker with a syringe containing vaccine for measles and mumps. Artyom Geodakyan—Artyom Geodakyan/TASS  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:14 AM UTCPublished: Mar 26, 2019 8:20 PM UTC Officials in New York’s Rockland County are banning people who have been diagnosed with measles out of public places and keeping improperly vaccinated children out of school, in their latest attempt to stop an “accelerating” measles outbreak there. The order is reminiscent of one issued last month, when Rockland County Executive Ed Day declared a state of emergency over the county’s ongoing measles outbreak. At that time, he announced that children who had not been vaccinated against the disease could not visit public places such as shopping centers, restaurants, schools and houses of worship. That order was eventually halted by a judge who said the county’s outbreak did not constitute an emergency or disaster. County officials have appealed that decision, and issued [two new orders](http://rocklandgov.com/departments/county-executive/press-releases/2019-press-releases/new-commissioners-orders-issued/) on Tuesday. The first forbids any person who has been diagnosed with measles or exposed to a person diagnosed with measles from visiting public places for up to 21 days. Those who break the order could face fines of up to $2,000 per violation per day. The second policy says that schools cannot allow students who have not been vaccinated against measles to attend, unless they have a valid medical or religious exemption on file. Failure to comply with this order could also result in a $2,000 fine per violation per day. During [a press conference](https://www.facebook.com/rocklandgov/videos/638188923273612/), Day argued that the original emergency declaration was appropriate, and reiterated his commitment to ending Rockland’s measles outbreak. “To be told that we should wait for someone to die because of this disease is absolutely beyond belief. Should we wait for hundreds more people to also fall ill?” Day said. “To say we are overreaching flies in the face of fact, history and, most important, common sense.” Measles, a highly contagious virus that comes with symptoms including fever, cough and rash, was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, but pockets of vaccine skepticism across the U.S. have allowed the preventable illness to come creeping back. In addition to Rockland, outbreaks have been reported in [New York City](http://time.com/5541872/brooklyn-measles-outbreak/) and the [Pacific Northwest](http://time.com/5524505/measles-washington-vaccination/). Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [has confirmed](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html) 555 cases of measles in 20 states in 2019. While every state requires certain vaccinations for children before they enroll in school, most currently allow exemptions for families with personal or philosophical objections to vaccination. States with particularly widespread exemptions, such as Washington, have seen high numbers of measles cases. The resurgence of measles has bred dueling responses from lawmakers. Some have joined public health officials in advocating for near-universal vaccination and [moving to limit exemptions](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/430333-washington-state-house-committee-passes-bill-to-ban-vaccine-exemptions) for all but medical reasons, while others are actually [trying to make it easier](https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/06/health/vaccine-exemption-bills-across-us-trnd/index.html) for parents to opt out of vaccine requirements. In February, then-Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb [said the federal government](http://time.com/5534592/fda-commissioner-federal-government-vaccine-policies/) might someday intervene, if lax state laws continue to allow for outbreaks. Officials in New York City this month also issued a mandate requiring all residents of four Brooklyn zip codes to get vaccinated against the measles, if they have not gotten the shot already. ## Transcript I'm Jeffrey Kluger, editor at large, for TIME magazine and I'm here to argue the hard truth that vaccines are safe, effective, and save lives, full stop. [ MUSIC ] There are people who disagree with those facts, who believe that vaccines are unsafe. Unnecessary and that their dangers are being covered up by a conspiracy of silence between the pharmaceutical industry and the government. Non of these, not a syllable of it is true, here is why. First of all, it bears repeating. Vaccines do not cause autism. They never have, they never will. That initial misconception was traced to a fraudulent 1998 study by British doctor Andrew Wakefield. The study as later retracted and Wakefield was stripped of his license to practice medicine in the UK. It is true that autism rates have risen in recent decades, but that's not because more children are developing the condition It's simply because we're diagnosing it better, more sensitively and more liberally. vaccines like all drugs have potential side effects. And as with all drugs, nobody is hiding those side effects. The centers for disease control lists all possible side effects of all possible vaccines readily on it's web site. Most of those side effects are minor. The few that aren't are so rare that it's not even possible to link them conclusively to the vaccines. One other thing no one's hiding are the ingredients in vaccines. All of the package inserts for all vaccines are also readily available online. If you read the packaging search you will see that yes vaccines are stuffed with chemicals. All medications are stuffed with chemicals all foods are made of chemicals. You and I are made of chemicals. Chemicals are essential for life. They do not have to be bad. If generations of medical history have taught us anything, it's that vaccinating children does not lead to illness and death. It's not vaccinating children that does that. Parents who opt out of vaccines do it out of love. Do it because they think that's the best way to protect their children. But that protection comes from vaccinating, not from opting out of vaccines. 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