2 measles cases at Brooklyn shelter for migrants lead to quarantine

Two cases of the measles have been diagnosed at a Brooklyn shelter for foreign migrants, leading to about 200 people being exposed and put under initial quarantine, according to the city’s health and hospitals agency. 

The quarantine has been lifted for most of those who were exposed, due to immunity verified from either documented prior vaccination or blood test. It began Friday and will continue for 21 days for those exposed who are not immune, according to Adam Shrier, a spokesman for the agency, NYC Health + Hospitals.

About 200 people were initially deemed to have been exposed at the shelter, which is on Hall Street near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, Shrier wrote in an email.

Of those, 80% no longer need to quarantine due to existing immunity, he said. That leaves about 40 people in quarantine. About 2,300 adults live at the shelter.

Measles is a highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease caused by a virus that spreads by an infected person's cough, sneeze or even breath. It causes a rash that usually appears about three to five days after the first symptoms. Untreated, it can cause severe disease, other complications and death.

It's unclear how many migrants arrive in New York City having been vaccinated against any communicable diseases, but a letter last year to clinicians, sent by city Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, said that about 50% had been vaccinated for polio. The city has administered, to date, about 75,000 vaccines to the migrants, according to Dr. Ted Long, senior vice president for ambulatory care and population health at NYC Health + Hospitals.

Since spring 2022, more than 200,000 foreign migrants, mostly from Latin America, have come to New York City, an unknown number having illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier this year, there were 57 measles cases associated with those living in or having contact with people living at a migrant shelter in Chicago, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those infected were from Venezuela, with a median age of 3, and most cases were unvaccinated.

As for New York, Shrier said, serology tests were continuing to be evaluated to detect immunity among those who remain quarantined. He said that disclosing the infected people's nationality would violate their privacy. He didn’t respond to a message asking whether those affected are migrants, staff or both.

He said those who are quarantined have been placed in hotel rooms, but he declined to say where.

Rachel Vick, a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said the agency is requesting that the quarantined people stay in their hotel rooms, and it has restricted their movements. She didn’t immediately respond to a question seeking specifics of the restrictions and whether they're legally mandated.

Only the two cases have been detected at the shelter. The city spent the past weekend doing blood tests and explaining to those who were exposed what would happen.

“We really wanted to make sure that we were attending to people because this is a very scary thing. I'm terrified of measles,” Long said, adding: “We did things like, I know it sounds a little bit silly, but we brought in TVs, we had interpreters around the clock to be able to answer everybody's questions, and we even brought in halal chicken from Popeyes just to make sure people had the comforts that they needed so they would stay in that room.”

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.