America’s new epidemic of measles and malaise

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health was at the forefront of public conversation and protest. 

School board meetings were rankled by individuals calling for vaccines versus no vaccines, masks versus no masks, and calls for personal freedom versus communal protection. There were street demonstrations and oodles of letters written to government and public health officials. National, state and local leaders, and elected officials, spoke forcefully about their viewpoints. 

But here we are in 2026, having passed a dizzying milestone of the highest number of U.S. cases of measles since 1991, coupled with a huge national outbreak of cyclosporiasis. While our country is enduring these outbreaks, we also need to ask why we accept these situations, as there is little public or government outcry about what is happening. 

Public health happens quietly and effectively in the background, keeping our food and water supplies safe, promoting community health, responding to infectious diseases and preventing epidemics. Occasionally, public health hits front-page news when serious outbreaks of influenza or other potential infectious threats to the U.S. bubble up, such as with the H1N1 flu outbreak of 2009, Ebola in 2014 and Zika in 2015.

The federal response to these infections was led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet, during the COVID-19 pandemic, following an initial similar national response, pandemic response became politically polarized with a dramatic red state-blue state divide. Even within states, different viewpoints were visibly manifest as related to commerce, education and vaccine policies, which tore communities........

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