New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has extended the state of emergency declared in response to the spread of poliovirus after sewage tested positive in Brooklyn and Queens.
Hochul said the state disaster emergency will remain in place at least through Nov. 8 to support statewide efforts to boost the vaccination rate against polio.
The New York State Department of Health, in a statement Tuesday, said sewage tested positive for poliovirus in Brooklyn and Queens. The sample is genetically linked to the virus that paralyzed an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County over the summer. The unvaccinated adult from Rockland County is the only known case of paralysis in the U.S. so far, but state health officials have said their are likely hundreds of people spreading the virus without symptoms.
"These findings put an alarming exclamation point on what we have already observed: unvaccinated people are at a real and unnecessary risk," New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett and New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said in a joint statement. Poliovirus has now been detected in sewage samples from Kings, Nassau, Orange, Queens, Rockland, and Sullivan counties