Polio declared a disaster emergency in New York after more poliovirus found

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster on Friday after the p olioviruses was found in wastewater from a fourth county.

The emergency declaration will allow more types of health care providers to authorize and administer the vaccine. It makes it a requirement for health care providers to report vaccine information to the state.

An unvaccinated adult in Rockland County had symptoms that began in June. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detected the disease in 57 wastewater samples from four counties, with the earliest detection in April from Orange County.

The transmission seems to be going strong despite public awareness and vaccinations. There were 27 positives detected in August. Fifty of the 57 positive samples are related to the Rockland paralytic case. Nassau, which had a positive wastewater sample last month, is the newest county to detect the disease.

Vaccination rates are not good. Sullivan County has a rate of 62 percent. The rate in Nassau is the same as the statewide one.

Even lower vaccination can be masked by county-wide averages. The vaccination rate data for Rockland and Orange counties is worrying. Two zip codes in Orange have vaccination rates over 40 percent. The vaccine rate in Rockland is as low as 37 percent. The state health department's goal is to have 90 percent or more of the population vaccinations.

The New York State Health Commissioner said that they couldn't roll the dice on the disease. Paralytic disease is real if you or your child are unvaccinated. I don't want New Yorkers to accept any risk.