Statements from County Executive Day and County Attorney Thomas Humbach Regarding Denial of Appeal by Appellate Division

“While we are disappointed with the ruling of the Appeals Court we have already rescinded (as of 4/16, see attached) the “Measles Outbreak Emergency Directive,” which banned all unvaccinated minors from public places and have pivoted to implementing new strategies and Commissioner’s Orders to address the measles outbreak in Rockland (see press release: https://bit.ly/2UtdLra).

We will not be deterred from protecting the health of all county residents and will continue to evaluate our strategies as we methodically move forward. Unfortunately, we do expect our case numbers to continue to rise despite the best efforts of our Department of Health; there are currently 194 confirmed cases of measles. I thank the people of Rockland who have now received 19,015 MMR vaccinations since the beginning of this outbreak. It is through your efforts that we will stop this outbreak once and for all,” said County Executive Day.

“We are surprised by the Appellate Court’s Decision and Order denying the County’s appeal of Judge Thorsen’s temporary restraining order, especially in light of Judge Knipel’s decision upholding NYC’s mandatory vaccination order and recognizing that there is in fact a measles epidemic in parts of this State.

We will keep moving forward with the County’s cases before Judge Thorsen, where we have filed motions to dismiss.

We also will assist the Commissioner of Health with enforcing her new orders, which include a new Communicable Disease & Exposure Exclusion Order, requiring those diagnosed with or exposed to the measles to be excluded from indoor and outdoor places of public assembly, and a new school exclusion order, requiring schools to exclude unvaccinated students who have no medical or religious exemptions on file,” said County Attorney Thomas Humbach.

  measles, Rockland