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Two people at Brooklyn migrant shelter diagnosed with measles, health commissioner says
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published Jul 13, 2024
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By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published Jul 13, 2024
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Two people living at a city-run migrant shelter near the Brooklyn Navy Yard have tested positive for measles, Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said Friday night — and officials are working to identify other residents who may have been exposed.
The two adults live at the city’s Hall Street site in Brooklyn, according to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Officials said they’re testing residents who were living on the same floor as those infected while also assessing their vaccination status.
“The Health Department and Health + Hospitals are coordinating to ensure that anyone who’s been exposed gets the support and resources they need,” Vasan said in a statement late Friday. “While measles may be an extremely contagious virus, the risk to the community is low as most New Yorkers are vaccinated against it.”
City officials said most people who attend public school in New York and elsewhere are required to be vaccinated as children — as are most migrants are at the U.S. border.
Health officials say that possible exposure is currently limited to the single floor of the building where the two people have been living.
The Hall Street complex has been at the center of tensions within the surrounding community in Clinton Hill, as its shelter population has grown exponentially from single adults to facilities housing families with children across former warehouse buildings.
Brooklyn was home to a high-profile measles outbreak in 2019, when ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities wary of vaccines even before the COVID-19 pandemic, grappled with a wave of infections. At the time, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in parts of Williamsburg that mandated measles vaccinations for residents of specific zip codes.
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Asylum Seekers
public safety
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Health and Science
Michelle Bocanegra
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