A person with measles was reportedly in Newark Liberty International Airport on May 8, potentially exposing thousands of travelers to the disease, New Jersey health officials revealed Friday.
What's more, neighboring New York now has 535 cases of measles, an increase of 12 patients in less than a week, according to the newest city data, also released Friday.
Although measles outbreaks are now nationwide - striking 25 states - New York's Orthodox Jewish communities have borne the brunt of the disease in the US outbreak that has sickened nearly 900 people.
In an effort to stem the outbreak, the city has ordered every adult and child in five Brooklyn zip codes to get vaccinated or face fines of up to $1,000.
So far, 122 summons have been issued to unvaccinated New Yorkers who have refused to get shots for themselves or their children.
Yet, the highly contagious, once eliminated virus continues to spread, most recently in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where the city's health department is now trying to reach Spanish- and Chinese-speaking communities.
New Jersey health officials have confirmed that a traveler who was at Newark Liberty International Airport (pictured, file) on May 8 had measles, as cases reach 535 in New York City
'Williamsburg remains the epicenter of this outbreak, though we have seen some cases in people outside of the Orthodox Jewish community,' said New York City Health Commissioner Dr Oxiris Barbot.
Although four of the 12 new New York cases were reported in Sunset Park, Dr Bardot is relatively unconcerned about that neighborhood for the time being.
'Given the high vaccination rates in Sunset Park, we do not foresee sustained transmission in this neighborhood,' she said.
As for the Newark Airport case, there's no telling how many of the passengers and employees might have been unvaccinated - including children too young to get shots - and how many might have come into contact with the infected person.
In 2017, 43.3 million passengers flew in and out of Newark, which serves as one of the three major hubs for New York City and is the 11th busiest airport in the US.
Health officials have pushed hard for public awareness and vaccination campaigns which may have helped to protect New Yorkers, but such efforts aren't really applicable to the people who were in Terminal B of Newark on May 8 between 2pm and 6pm.
'We urge everyone to check to make sure they and their family members are up-to-date on measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine and all other age-appropriate immunizations,' said New Jersey state epidemiologist Dr Christina Tan.
In New York, measles has spread like wildfire in Orthodox Jewish communities where some believe that a vaccine constitutes a foreign body, which the Torah forbids Jews from allowing to enter their own bodies.
But last month Mayor Bill DiBlasio declared a state of emergency and mandated that everyone living in areas with outbreaks get vaccinated or face fines - regardless of their religious beliefs.
Several parents filed a lawsuit claiming that the mandate violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion, but a Brooklyn judge upheld the vaccine order.
Since October 1, the health department
