On the corner of Bedford and Division Avenues in Brooklyn, in the heart of the New York borough’s Orthodox Jewish community, men in black hats and suits rushed in and out of cafes and women with head scarfs pushed strollers or carts filled with groceries, not eager to speak with an outsider.
There was little indication that the Williamsburg neighborhood was the center of the nation’s biggest outbreak of measles, a once eradicated disease that has returned as some parents shun the vaccines that killed it off. On April 9, the 285 cases reported in the borough prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to declare a public health emergency, allowing him to impose $1,000 fines -- or even jail time -- on those who haven’t been inoculated and shining a light on the small, insular religious circles where the virus has spread.
