Health officials in New York have named Ontario in a recent measles travel advisory, urging tourists to get vaccinated before visiting the province as it grapples with an ongoing outbreak of the disease.
“Measles is only a car ride away!” the New York State Department of Health said in an advisory dated April 2.
“Because measles is so contagious, it easily crosses borders. Currently, measles outbreaks are happening in parts of the United States and Canada, especially in Ontario, and around the world,” the notice goes on to say.
The advisory comes as Ontario continues to battle an outbreak of the disease which started in the fall. As it stands, the province has seen 661 cases since the outbreak began – the highest case count in more than a decade.
Last week, Ontario reported 89 new cases of the disease, down slightly from the 100 reported a week earlier and the 120 cases a week before that.
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore has said that the outbreak, which officials believe to be predominantly tied to unvaccinated children in Ontario’s Southwestern Public Health Unit, will likely extend into the summer.
Last month, Moore urged Ontarians to make sure their vaccinations against measles were up to date and pushed parents to ensure their children have received their two shots, the first at 12 months and the second when they are between four and six years old.
New York health officials echoed that message, while noting that many other countries have also seen an uptick in measles cases recently, including India, Thailand, Pakistan, Yemen and Ethiopia.
Outbreaks are also occurring domestically in the United States and on Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Texas, a state grappling with its own outbreak where two unvaccinated children have died from a measles-related illness.
