The mayor of New York, Kathy Hochhol, is sounding the alarm after the discovery of the polio virus in sewage. The authorities themselves reported this on the official website of New York. .

The state has now declared a state of emergency.

clear call

Poliovirus was detected in wastewater samples from Orange, Rockland and Sullivan in April, May, June, July and August of this year.

In August, the NTB reported that the polio virus had been found in sewers in New York after the infectious disease was discovered in a person north of the big city a few weeks earlier. This was announced by the health authorities.

No detailed information was provided about the affected person.

Now the authorities in New York write on their official website that the virus was detected in an unvaccinated resident of Rockland County. The person must not have traveled abroad during the custody period.

The polio virus that infected a Rockland County individual was identified as a case of vaccine-derived poliovirus, the same case that was identified in New York in 1990. This was the last time any case of poliovirus was reported in the state to date.

New York health authorities said earlier this summer that the virus in sewage indicates a local spread.

Fewer people are getting vaccinated

Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett finds it annoying but not surprising.

This poses a real danger to New Yorkers, but it’s very easy to defend: get a polio vaccine. New York Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan added, with polio spreading in the community, nothing is more important than vaccinating children and protecting them from this virus.

The virus was initially declared eliminated in the United States in 1979, mainly due to high vaccination rates.

Now, however, the authorities note that the frequency of routine polio vaccination has decreased during the Corona pandemic, and that skepticism about vaccines has increased.