NYC Warns “Polio Circulating” City After Virus Found In Sewage

Health officials have detected poliovirus in wastewater from New York City, suggesting the virus is circulating undetected across the metro area. 

The New York State Department of Health and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced their findings about the virus known to cause permanent paralysis and even death. 

“The risk to New Yorkers is real but the defense is so simple — get vaccinated against polio … With polio circulating in our communities there is simply nothing more essential than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus, and if you’re an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated adult, please choose now to get the vaccine,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the New York City health commissioner, stated in a Department of Health press release. 

UPDATE: NYSDOH & @nychealthy wastewater monitoring has identified poliovirus in samples in NYC. Now is time for every adult & child to get immunized against polio & be up to date with immunization schedules, especially those in the greater NY metro area. https://t.co/aOJNV1lP0I pic.twitter.com/i9GIRULDQS

— NYSDOH (@HealthNYGov) August 12, 2022

 A polio case identified in Rockland County, just north of NYC, in late July was “just the very, very tip of the iceberg” and an indication there “must be several hundred cases in the community circulating,” Dr. Jose Romero, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told CNN on Wednesday. 

Besides an emerging polio threat, main stream media and government have been drumming up monkeypox and COVID virus doom stories to keep people in a perpetual state of fear.  

… and, of course, the government is offering polio booster vaccines.