New York Governor Declares Polio Emergency State

Confirmed Case of Polio in US After 10 Years in July
Subsequent Detection of Polio Virus in Wastewater Continues

The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. (Photo by Getty Images Bank)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency due to the outbreak of polio.

According to a report by The New York Times (NYT) on the 9th (local time), this measure allows emergency medical personnel, midwives, and pharmacists to administer polio vaccines, and requires healthcare workers to send polio vaccination data to the New York State Department of Health.

This is to determine the direction of the state government's polio vaccination policy going forward.

In New York State, a polio case was reported in July for the first time in nearly 10 years in the United States. The patient was a male who had not received the polio vaccine.

Polio generally shows mild or flu-like symptoms, but in severe cases, it can cause disabilities and be life-threatening. It can also transmit the virus to others for several days to weeks even when asymptomatic, mainly affecting infants and children under 5 years old, but anyone unvaccinated can be infected.

Polio typically spreads from person to person through the feces of infected individuals. There is no specific treatment, and vaccination is effective.

Since the polio virus is usually found in the feces of infected persons, New York State has been continuously monitoring wastewater to track the spread of the virus. Last month, polio virus was detected in several wastewater samples.

The polio vaccination rates in the counties where polio samples were found are known to be lower than in other counties.

The polio vaccination rate for children under 2 years old in New York State is about 79%. However, the vaccination rates in areas where the polio virus was detected in wastewater are 60% (Rockland County), 59% (Orange County), and 62% (Sullivan County), respectively.

Orange County and Rockland County have large populations of Hasidic Jews from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

The polio vaccine is administered three times before the age of 2, and a New York State official said, "We hope the polio vaccination rate will rise above 90%."

Accordingly, unvaccinated individuals are urged to complete their vaccinations, and additional vaccinations for emergency medical workers have been made mandatory.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.