Ready for another pandemic? New York City’s health commissioner announced last week that the influx of migrants from the southern border — more than 50,000 to New York City alone in the past year — is delivering contagious diseases, including tuberculosis and polio, to our neighborhoods.
The same disease threats are also endangering other migrant destinations, including California, Texas and Florida.
In a letter to physicians and health care administrators citywide, Commissioner Ashwan Vasan explained that “many people who recently arrived in NYC have lived in or traveled through countries with high rates of TB.”
TB, short for tuberculosis, is a bacterial infection. It is treatable with antibiotics, but it generally takes six to nine months of medication to recover. Not a walk in the park.
TB spreads through the air, like flu or a cold. Stand next to someone with TB for a long subway ride or sit next to them every day at school and you can catch it.
New York City’s TB rate, at 6.1 cases per 100,000, is more than double the national rate. Close to 9 out of 10 (88%) of these TB cases are people born outside the United States. Every neighborhood in the city has had at least one case.
Vasan’s letter called on New York to pull out all the stops providing health care, food and legal services to migrants. Not a word about protecting the people who already live here.
Open borders import disease. Immigrants who lawfully apply for a visa must undergo health screenings and show they are vaccinated, and refugees are screened for TB before entering the U.S. Not so for those wading across the Rio Grande. --->READ MORE HERE
Approximately 50 percent of illegal immigrants coming into New York City are not vaccinated against the contagious and potentially deadly poliovirus.
The New York Post obtained an eight-page letter, dated April 11, that was sent to physicians and other healthcare providers by the city’s Health Commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, urging doctors to help prevent a public health emergency.
According to Vasan, the migrants come from or pass through countries with high rates of infectious tuberculosis and there have also been chickenpox outbreaks in shelters housing them.
“More than 50,000 people have come to New York City (NYC) in the past year shortly after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. As more people arrive and many make NYC their home, the scale and scope of need continues to grow,” Vasan wrote.
He added, “I am writing now to underscore how critical it is that health care providers take a wide range of considerations into account when working with people who are seeking asylum. The scope of this letter represents the scale of the need. It is incumbent upon us as a welcoming city to comprehensively evaluate and meet these needs.” --->READ MORE HERE
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