You are reading

Flushing Yeshiva Closed by City After Measles Violation

The Yeshiva of Central Queens. (Google Maps)

May 14, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan

The New York City Department of Health shut down The Yeshiva of Central Queens after the school failed to exclude unvaccinated students following a known measles exposure at the school.

On May 9, the school, located at 147-37 70th Rd., was slapped with an Order of the Commissioner after DOH became aware of a measles exposure at the school. The order instructed the school to not allow any unvaccinated children to attend for 21 days.

The school is now required to submit a corrective action plan to DOH detailing how it will address its lapses in complying with the order. The plan will then need to be reviewed and approved by the city agency before the school can reopen.

This marks the first school closure outside of Brooklyn, where a total of eight school, primarily in the Williamsburg area, have been closed by DOH for failing to comply with a Commissioner’s Order. All eight Brooklyn have since been authorized to reopen.

To date, 498 cases of measles have been confirmed in the city since last October. Eighty percent of these cases have been found within five ZIP codes in and around Williamsburg, which have been under an Emergency Order since April 9, requiring those who live or work in those areas to be vaccinated.

“In order to prevent outbreaks in new areas of the City we need parents to get their children vaccinated and schools to exclude children who are not up to date with the measles vaccine,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

“We continue to urge unvaccinated New Yorkers to get vaccinated against measles as soon as possible. Exposures outside of the Williamsburg neighborhood have not resulted in sustained transmission because of relatively high levels of vaccination in affected communities. Maximizing the number of individuals up to date with their measles vaccine is the best way to protect our communities.”

The DOH says it has engaged in extensive community outreach, particularly targeting orthodox Jewish communities in the area, where vaccination rates are lower. The agency has met with rabbinical and community leaders and distributed educational material in both English and Yiddish.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Scooter-riding robbers sought for gunpoint chain-snatching inside Woodhaven playground: NYPD

Police from the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill are looking for a scooter-riding armed robber and his accomplice who allegedly held up a 25-year-old man at gunpoint in broad daylight at a Woodhaven playground late last month.

The incident occurred just before noon on Wednesday, Sept. 25, when the two strangers rode a two-wheeled scooter onto the basketball court inside London Planetree Playground on Atlantic Avenue and approached the victim. One of the perpetrators pulled out a firearm and forcibly removed two gold chains from the victim’s neck and $100 in cash, police said. The bandits rode off northbound on 89th Street toward Jamaica Avenue. The victim was not injured during the encounter.

Flushing man busted for pushing an 82-year-old woman off the platform at the Main Street 7 train station in Wednesday: NYPD

A Flushing man was arrested Monday and charged with attempted murder for allegedly shoving an 82-year-old woman onto the tracks at the Main Street 7 train station during a random attack on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Brandon Harris, 35, who lives directly across the street from the bustling subway station, was booked at the Transit District 20 headquarters at the Briarwood subway station in Jamaica on Monday.

City completes $106M sewer project in Maspeth using micro-tunneling techniques to reduce disruptions

The city announced on Monday the completion of a $106 million infrastructure project in Maspeth, the second of three phases to create a new drainage system through central Queens. The project also upgraded over a mile of water mains and replaced smaller, local combined sanitary sewers.

The city’s Department of Design and Construction managed the project for the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation and successfully used micro-tunneling technology throughout large parts of it to minimize construction impacts during work.