No, polio is not a threat to the vast majority of Americans. That’s because the vast majority has received a very effective polio vaccine. And that’s also why public officials should stop turning a concern centered on a few under-vaxxed communities into everyone’s problem.

But Gov. Kathy Hochul did just that when she declared a “polio state of emergency” in the state of New York. The announcement made the national and international news, portraying New York as the center of a new disease outbreak, just as the state was still digging out of the pandemic slowdown.