Updated Measles Protocol

As you may be aware, New York City is currently experiencing a measles outbreak. Measles is a vaccine-preventable illness which causes fever, rash, and respiratory symptoms. Notably, measles can cause severe, life-threatening disease in infants and people with poor immune systems.

Most of the cases reported have occurred in children 4 years of age and younger. It is for this reason that as of Monday, April 29, any child of 4 or under who visits an inpatient facility or perioperative unit must have proof of vaccination or immunity to measles. Additionally, visitors who live in zip codes where measles cases are occurring (as flagged in Epic) coming to see immunocompromised inpatients should have plausible evidence of immunity to measles verified.

This temporary change to our visitation policy, which can be found on Ellucid, was made to protect our patients, many of whom cannot get vaccinated because they are too young or are being treated for cancer.

Although the greatest number of cases are occurring in children, under-vaccinated adults are also susceptible to infection. Therefore, we need to be vigilant in asking patients about fever, cough, and rash at their entry into care. When these symptoms are present, we must isolate these individuals immediately to minimize exposure until further evaluation is completed. Once this outbreak is controlled, we will return to our standard visitation policy. Thank you for partnering with us to keep our patients and staff healthy and safe. NYC.Gov’s Page