New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency on Friday after samples of the polio virus were discovered in sewage from three counties outside New York City.
Hochul’s executive order came more than a month after an adult in Rockland County, north of New York City, was diagnosed with the disease in July. It was the first confirmed case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade.
The declaration would expand the number of people authorized to administer polio vaccines and other measures to accelerate inoculation rates. The state of emergency will remain in effect until October 9.
The polio virus was present in sewage samples collected in April, Hochul’s executive order said.
The virus was detected in sewage samples taken in Orange, Rockland and Sullivan counties each month since April, indicating the virus was present in the state before the County case was found. Rockland in July.
After the disease was detected, New York officials began urging unvaccinated residents to take a polio vacation. Although people of all ages are at risk, the virus mainly affects children three years of age and younger.
Polio can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented with a vaccine that first became available in 1955. There is no known cure. Three injections of the vaccine provide almost 100% immunity.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub and Tyler Clifford in New York Editing by Alistair Bell)