Residents of Clinton Hill call for better conditions inside migrant shelter amid 2 measles cases
This comes after two measles cases were reported in the building, which according to health experts accounts for a low amount of risk for those vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.
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Residents in the Clinton Hill neighborhood say New York City officials must do more for the 2,400 migrants inside of the Hall Street Emergency Shelter.
"This number is too big. They cannot live like this, and neither can the community," said former district leader Renee Collymore.
This comes after two measles cases were reported in the building, which according to health experts accounts for a low amount of risk for those vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.
"The vaccine is somewhere around 97 or 98% effective. So we're pretty much protected from measles. However, with people who have not been immunized, if they have close contact, or even not so close contact, with someone who has measles, their chance of getting it is on the order of that same 97%," said Dr. Edward Chapnick of Maimonides Medical Center.
But those stats are offering little comfort to those who live near the site, who worry for the unvaccinated inside the facility, and the increasing number of arrivals.
"I think the city, the elected officials, they need to be proactive instead of reacting, they always react after this breakout," said Resident Vernon Jones.
"There's a lot of little kids, a lot of pregnant women. And if they're vaccinated or not, I don't know why. I just feel like they should start that process. I think you need to start vaccinating anyone," said Clinton Hill Resident Yukiko Marshall.
Jones tells News12 he wants to see the city offer vaccination, testing and increased health services, as well as increased services for the large groups that are on the streets in front of the shelter.
"When you get people living like this one on top of another disease spreads, that is a fact," he said.
They say they are calling on the current Councilmember Crystal Hudson to support lowering the capacity, something they say she did not do.
In a statement to News 12, Hudson says the current conditions fall on a lack of oversite from the Adams administration and says she does support lowering the amount of people inside the shelter if alternate housing can be found.
Her full statement to News12 reads:
This Administration has yet to show New Yorkers a long-term plan for supporting our newly arrived neighbors and right-sizing shelters to ensure communities are properly resourced to accommodate large population increases. For months, I have demanded greater support for my community to address the massive influx of new residents in Clinton Hill. When requesting everything from a vaccine bus for new arrivals to more frequent sanitation services for the blocks surrounding the shelter, I have been rebuffed time and time again. The can cannot be kicked down the road any further. The Mayor must end his 30/60 day shelter rule and expeditiously roll out a long-term plan that balances the needs of our new and long-term residents alike. At a recent community briefing my office organized, every single elected official present — myself included — agreed that the current shelter size was untenable. Yet we cannot reduce a shelter’s population without a guaranteed bed elsewhere for anyone who needs.
