I can't but wonder if poor education isn't driving the anti-vax members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. What happened to the monitor or commission that was supposed to look into Jewish religious schools after people who left the community complained that they weren't exposed to secular subjects like science?
As for well-educated non-Jews in other communities who refuse to have their kids vaccinated, what's their excuse?
8
@Lifelong Reader, re "monitor or commission that was supposed to look into Jewish religious schools ... weren't exposed to secular subjects like science"
I think this link should work to the guidelines they finally issued - Nov 2018, 2 to 3 months into the 2018-19 school year,
http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/nonpublic-schools/substantial-equivalency-guidance.pdf
making it administratively impossible to adjust to these for the 2018-19 year without firing some teachers and trying to hire others, from a pool who were most likely already elsewhere if well-qualified. And that assumes guidelines that were a lot more specific than these, so that Yeshivahs would really know exactly what to do to pass inspections.
The Yeshivah I went to mid-1960s to 1977 had the same teachers in each subject for the whole Sept to June year, so that the required Regents exam needs could be met, but more key developmentally, so teachers could know and track their students, even make suggestions to move this student into an advanced class, or allow the student to at times even be moved just in certain subjects like math or science or writing to a group where they might potentially flourish.
It seems that even if the rules were a clear "How to" book, inspectors trying to check out the guidelines could not reasonable evaluate how they're doing until the 2019-20 school year is well underway, given their release Nov. 2018.
3
This measles outbreak has been long in coming, an increase in cases was already being reported last year.
Unfortunately a perfect storm of fear, a lack of correct information and religious practices has brought it to the point where it is now, affecting not only this particular community but the rest of the city as well.
Who ever thought it would come down to the need for "disease detectives" in 2020?... very sci-fi.
6
@N. Smith, re "Who ever thought it would come down to the need for "disease detectives" in 2020?... very sci-fi."
Certainly, Tony Shalhoub as "Monk" was always on the lookout for germs while solving a case.
And I saw this from 2009, if you scroll down just a little -"Germs, She Wrote,"
https://www.parksandrecbusiness.com/articles/2009/02/05/park-bathrooms
"Every week Ms. Fletcher solved another mystery by eliminating suspects until the guilty party was revealed at the end of the show. In the same way, park managers and cleaning professionals must become their own “Jessica Fletchers” when it comes to finding potentially harmful microorganisms."
2020 sci-fi is here. Maybe "2020" will be the new "1984." :)
3
@Freddie
And looking at our current political situation, I think you nailed it about "1984", Freddie!
2
@N. Smith - or on I hope a not-too-sad note - if only we could really "party like it's 1999," and catch Prince before that epidemic that killed him hit. Every time I hear that song, I feel like it's one of the truly avoidable tragedies the music world has felt the last 20 years, and what he could have made happen with today's possibilities that will never happen, in addition to the personal tragedy to his family.
1
Diseases do not stop at ghetto walls--even self-imposed ones--or the walls of that other type of ghetto, walled high-end communities.
What part of this do people not understand?
ALL diseases are transmitted socially, whether by droplets containing germs/viruses set into the air or through intimate contact.
5
It's not just egregiously bad vets that are a problem: There are also vets who don't listen to pet owners when they describe symptoms, who are a problem.
I took a pet to a vet last year who didn't listen to me when I described his symptoms, and then I switched to another who kept telling me, "Give him smelly food. He is fussy." When I went to the AMC for a third opinion, they diagnosed him with a fatal virus and told me there was nothing I could do -- too late.
But then, we have careless incompetents in every walk of life, from doctors to teachers, from politicians to city workers. Who's filling those potholes?
(Re the rise in MTA graffiti and cost of cleaning it: I know. Graffiti is getting worse again. Who are these people who are up all night messing up our neighborhoods and train stations instead of getting a good night's sleep so that they can focus in school or at work the next day?)
9
So, some few kids got permanent immunity to measles. Those that were FORCED to get shots and pay for them, did NOT get permanent immunity and can get sick any time after four years? And who is the beneficiary? Only Big Pharma.
Google "herd immunity." There are people too young, too old, or too sick to be vaccinated. They benefit. Look up "measles" as well. It can kill or disable.
11