2 Measles Cases Reported in New York City Migrant Shelter

Two adults living at a New York City migrant shelter were diagnosed with measles, a treatable but highly contagious respiratory illness, city health officials said on Friday.

The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is coordinating with the local hospital system “to ensure that anyone who’s been exposed gets the support and resources they need,” according to a news release from the department. As of Friday, the circle of people who might have been infected was limited to those residing on one floor of the shelter, health officials said. The shelter, on Hall Street, is in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The close quarters of shelters can often exacerbate the spread of respiratory illnesses. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the coronavirus spread rapidly through crowded homeless shelters in the city.

Measles can cause high fever, coughing and rashes, among other symptoms. It can also lead to serious health complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis, especially for children under the age of 5. Symptoms can appear one to two weeks after contact with the virus that causes measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person with the illness can infect up to nine out of 10 people nearby if they are not vaccinated against it, according to the agency.

Vaccinations against the disease offer a high degree of protection: Two doses of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are 97 percent effective, according to the C.D.C. One dose is 93 percent effective.

In New York City, the two-dose vaccination rate among kindergartners during the 2022-23 school year was about 97 percent, according to city data.