The state of emergency was extended by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul after sewage tested positive for the disease.
Hochul said the state disaster emergency will be in place for at least a month.
The New York State Department of Health said in a statement Tuesday that the sewage sample that tested positive in Brooklyn and Queens is genetically linked to the disease that paralyzed an unvaccinated adult.
The only known case of paralysis in the US is that of an unvaccinated adult from Rockland County.
Unvaccinated people are at a real and unnecessary risk according to the New York State and New York City health officials.
According to New York state health officials, 70 sewage samples have tested positive for the disease. The virus has been found in sewage from several counties.
In Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Nassau countries, more than 28,000 doses of vaccine have been administered.
New York has struggled with low immunization rates in some communities for years, but most people in the state are not at risk of contracting the disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccine rate for children under the age of two dropped from 70% in 2020 to 40% in 2022. In some areas of Rockland, only a small percentage of kids are up to date on their vaccine.
State, national, and global health authorities believe that the New York case is the result of a country still using the oral vaccine. In rare circumstances, the oral vaccine can cause disease.
The US stopped using the vaccine more than two decades ago. The vaccine contains a dead virus that can't be regenerated. The vaccine doesn't stop the transmission of the virus.
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