Judge Rolf Thorsen Issues Temporary Injunction Against Measles Emergency Declaration in Rockland County NY

Note: With apologies to William Wordsworth Longfellow for the headline. Looks like the public health/pharma trial balloon of quarantining THE HEALTHY has gone the way of The Hindenberg. At least for the moment. Let's assume that Rolf Thorsen is NOT from the same gene pool (or moral pool) as Poul Thorsen, fugitive and MMR vaccine scientific hit man.)  Oh! The Humanity!

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NEW CITY - A judge today halted Rockland County Executive Ed Day's emergency declaration barring children who are unvaccinated against measles from schools, places of worship and other public areas.

Acting state Supreme Court Judge Rolf Thorsen's injunction stated that the 166 cases cited by the county since the measles outbreak began last October did not rise to the level of an epidemic or constitute a disaster. Day's reliance on executive law in issuing the emergency declaration "may have been misplaced," the decision stated.

Thorsen agreed with the families who sued the county when they said their children would continue to miss school, and the parents would continue to incur monetary expenses as a result of the order. The families asserted that the children posed no threat to other children at a school where there had been no reported cases of the measles.

Michael Sussman, attorney for several dozen parents whose unvaccinated children attend Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, said the decision showed the judge agreed with his contention that the emergency declaration "is an improper vehicle for an over-broad order of this sort."

"We expect all schools in the county, where children who have religious exemptions and have been barred ... will be returned to school so they can continue their education," Sussman said late Friday afternoon.

Although Thorsen's injunction is temporary, the fate of the state of emergency is unclear. The county has the option of filing papers in advance of an April 19 court appearance, but by then Day's 30-day state of emergency would be almost done.

Day expressed disappointment in the ruling but maintained his belief that the order made a difference.

"While today’s ruling by Judge Thorsen did not go as we had expected I want to commend those here in Rockland who have used this State of Emergency as an opportunity to get vaccinated and have conversations with their friends and neighbors about vaccination," he said in a statement. "We sought to find a new way to fight back against a disease that was eradicated almost 20 years ago and refused to sit idly by while those in Rockland were put at risk."

Drew worldwide attention

Thorsen's ruling followed Thursday afternoon's arguments in a pair of lawsuits brought by parents whose unvaccinated children have been affected by the state of emergency instituted March 26 by the county executive.

The order was intended to put the brakes on a measles outbreak that started in October when a traveler from Israel visited the county. Many of the 167 cases have occurred in the insular Orthodox and Hasidic communities in the Monsey and Spring Valley area.

This article delves deep into the state of vaccine choice - please, go over to the site. Read more at LoHud.com.