'In this for the long haul': Texas surpasses 500 measles cases since January
Texas has officially surpassed 500 confirmed cases of measles since the start of the year.
On Tuesday, Texas confirmed 505 cases of measles in 22 counties since the virus outbreak that began in late-January, Director of Lubbock Public Health Katherine Wells said during a press conference. About 70% of these cases − 351, in fact − have been confirmed in children under the age of 18. Only five or six of the 505 individuals who contracted the virus were vaccinated, Wells added. This vaccination figure is likely higher, as tracking vaccination rates is difficult.
Last week, Tiny Tots U Learning Academy in Lubbock, a daycare that serves pre-K children, experienced a measles outbreak, with seven confirmed cases, Wells said during a press conference. As of Tuesday, more children were being tested from the daycare.
The continued climb of measles cases in Texas follows the second death of a school-aged child from the virus in Texas, reported on April 3.
"I think we're in this for the long haul," Wells said during a press conference.
Over the weekend, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been criticized for questioning the effectiveness of vaccines, said in an X post that he visited Gaines County, Texas to "be with the community in their moment of grief."
As of Tuesday, Gaines County remained the highest infected county in Texas, with 328 reported cases, Wells said during a press conference.
On April 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 607 confirmed measles cases throughout 21 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington.
But this nationwide number is growing. As of Tuesday, Indiana reported its first measles case in an unvaccinated minor.
Repeatedly, Kennedy has encouraged people with measles to be treated with Vitamin A and cod liver oil, though there is not scientific evidence that supports this form of treatment. And multiple children in needed treatment for Vitamin A toxicity last week, after Kennedy's advisement.
The use of steroids, antibiotics or Vitamin A to treat measles is "misguided" and ineffective, John Hopkins Center for Health Security Senior Scholar Amesh Adalja said during a press conference on Tuesday.
After his visit to Texas over the weekend, Kennedy took to X to say that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the "most effective way to prevent the spread of measles."
More: RFK Jr.: MMR vaccine 'most effective way' to prevent measles after 2nd Texas child dies
Several medical professionals, including London-based infectious disease specialist Dr. Neil Stone, took to social media to express their surprise.
"Words I never thought I would hear Robert F Kennedy Jr. say," Stone said in an X post on Sunday. "He's absolutely 100% correct, and I'm encouraged that he is speaking responsibly about measles in the face of this tragic outbreak."
Measles is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease caused by a virus that primarily, and most severely, affects children. Measles infects the respiratory tract before spreading throughout the body, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus is one of the most contagious infectious diseases to exist. 90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed end up contracting it. Additionally, one in five of those people end up hospitalized, according to the CDC.
Common measles symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and watery, red eyes. Some people will develop a flat, reddish-brown facial rash that eventually spreads to the neck, torso and rest of the body. When the rash appears, a person's fever may spike to more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Symptoms tend to appear a week or two after infection.
People are most contagious about four days before the rash appears and for about four days afterward. During this time, infection individuals should quarantine.
Other signs and symptoms of measles include:
Loss of appetite and diarrhea
Koplik spots, tiny white spots that may appear inside the mouth two to three days after symptoms begin
Small raised bumps may also appear on top of the flat red spots (the spots may become joined together as they spread from the head to the rest of the body)
Yes, individuals who have been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine can still contract the virus, but it's rare.
Roughly three out of 100 people who have received the two-dose vaccination may contract the virus when exposed, according to the CDC. Their symptoms tend to be milder and they are less likely to spread the virus.
Most vaccinated adults are immune to measles and do not need a booster shot, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge, Natalie Neysa Alund, Terry Collins, Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas surpasses 500 measles cases since start of 2025. What to know
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RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food
Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of "medical freedom," the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion. It's an idea supported under Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices. On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn't prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents. MORE: CDC official who oversaw COVID vaccine recommendations resigns "I'm a freedom-of-choice person," Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview in March. "We should have transparency. We should have informed choice, and if people don't want it, the government shouldn't force them to do it." Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy's talk about "freedom of choice." Just last week, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups. Additionally, Kennedy has called on states to ban recipients of food stamps from being able to use them to purchase soda. He has also praised states for banning fluoride from public drinking water and indicated he will change federal guidance on recommending adding fluoride. The public health experts said Kennedy's actions are setting up a dichotomy on public health. "I think that RFK Jr. has done a really good job of identifying some of the problems [in public health], but it's the solutions that are problematic," Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News. "What you're seeing with RFK Jr. and his approach to health is an individualization of public health. It's this idea that you can make decisions for your health, and that's always been true." He went on, "We need to be able to follow their guidance, not just have them tell us, 'Follow your own science.' As the focus shifts from community to individuals, we're losing a lot of that underpinning, which has led to a lot of the gains in public health." Kennedy has repeatedly stated that he is not anti-vaccine and that he supports vaccination. Shortly after Trump's election, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News that "if vaccines are working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information." MORE: CDC official who oversaw COVID vaccine recommendations resigns During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he supported the childhood vaccination schedule and that he would not do anything as head of HHS that "makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines." Separately, in an opinion piece Kennedy wrote for Fox News in March on the nationwide measles outbreak, he said the measles vaccine helps protect individuals and provides "community immunity" but also called the decision to vaccinate a "personal one." However, last week, Kennedy announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women." The CDC's immunization schedule is not just a guide for doctors but also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs. Following Kennedy's announcement, the schedule was updated noting all children would be eligible for COVID vaccines, but now under a shared-clinical decision-making model -- allowing parents to choose whether their children are vaccinated alongside advice from a doctor. "Regarding the vaccines, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told ABC News in a statement. "We are encouraging those groups to consult with their health care provider to help them make an informed decision. This is freedom of choice." "If you restrict access, you necessarily restrict choice," Dr. Matthew Ferrari, a professor of biology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News. "Those two things are antithetical. You can't do both. You can't say you're allowing choice if you're restricting access." Ferrari said the idea of "medical freedom" is catchy, but public health recommendations are made based on how to protect the most vulnerable individuals. "If you look at the outcomes, if you look at the consequences of that movement, it has been to disproportionately restrict access to -- and restrict support and infrastructure to allow people to access -- preventive medicine," he said. "It's sort of easy to say, 'Well, take the vaccine away. But [vaccines] prevent a future outcome of illness for yourself and for others in the community." Traditionally, the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices decides if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say. The committee was set to meet in late June to vote on potential changes to COVID vaccine recommendations. Spencer said Kennedy's bypassing of traditional avenues when it comes to changing vaccine recommendations is also taking away choice from people. "This did not go through the normal process that it should have, and he basically just made a decision for people while at the same time saying that he's going to let people make a decision," Spencer said. Kennedy has also campaigned to prevent Americans from using food stamps -- provided under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- to buy candy and soda. "It's nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans," Kennedy wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last September. MORE: RFK Jr. to tell medical schools to teach nutrition or lose federal funding At a MAHA event in late May, Kennedy said the governors of 10 states have submitted waivers to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting permission to ban SNAP recipients from using benefits to buy candy and soft drinks. "The U.S. government spends over $4 trillion a year on health care," Nixon said in a statement. "That's not freedom -- it's failure. Secretary Kennedy is unapologetically taking action to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, not subsidize it with taxpayer dollars. Warning Americans about the dangers of ultra-processed food isn't an attack on choice -- it's the first step in restoring it." Nutrition experts agree that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are unhealthy. Frequent consumption of SSBs is linked to health issues such as weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease and kidney diseases, according to the CDC. Kristina Petersen, an associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News there is a crisis of diet-related diseases in the U.S., which increase the risk of disability and reduces lifespan. However, she said there needs to be strong evidence of the benefits of restrictive policies if they are to be put in place. "In terms of limiting people's choices, it is important to consider all the different roles that food plays in someone's life, and so obviously we want people eating nutritious foods, but also we need to acknowledge that food is a source of enjoyment," Petersen said. "A lot of social situations revolve around food. So, when we're thinking about reducing people's access to given foods, we need to think about the consequences of that." One unintended consequence could be an eligible family not signing up for SNAP benefits because of the restrictions, she said. Even if a ban on buying candy and soda with SNAP benefits does occur, Petersen said she is not aware of any evidence that shows banning certain foods leads to healthier diets. She added that the nation's dietary guidelines are written to emphasize healthy foods like fruits and vegetable rather than telling people to avoid or restrict less healthy foods. "All foods can be consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern. It's really just the amount and the frequency that determines whether that pattern is helpful overall or less helpful," Petersen said. "People can have small indulgences, but really, we're interested in what is their pattern over a period of time." Providing incentives for purchasing healthier foods may be more effective and still allow people to have choice, Petersen said. A 2018 study used a model simulation to study the effects of food incentives, disincentives or restrictions in SNAP. One of the simulations involving incentives for foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and plant-based oils found to have the most substantial health benefits and be the most cost-effective. "Things like fruits and vegetables, they do tend to be more expensive, so if you incentivize them by providing more benefits … that's making the dollar go further, and it's kind of making the economic piece of this a bit stronger," Petersen said. "A lot of this is framed around personal choice. Rather than restricting access to, how can we give people more access to healthy foods? I think that's going to have the greatest benefit here." ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report. RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food originally appeared on
2 hours ago
RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food
Prior to becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had espoused the idea of "medical freedom," the ability of people to make personal health decisions for themselves and their families without corporate or government coercion. It's an idea supported under Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by making healthier lifestyle choices. On topics, such as vaccines, Kennedy has said he wouldn't prevent children from being able to receive vaccines but would leave the choice up to parents. "I'm a freedom-of-choice person," Kennedy told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview in March. "We should have transparency. We should have informed choice, and if people don't want it, the government shouldn't force them to do it." Some public health experts told ABC News, however, that the HHS has been limiting choices on some products for many Americans despite Kennedy's talk about "freedom of choice." Just last week, Kennedy announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for certain groups. Additionally, Kennedy has called on states to ban recipients of food stamps from being able to use them to purchase soda. He has also praised states for banning fluoride from public drinking water and indicated he will change federal guidance on recommending adding fluoride. The public health experts said Kennedy's actions are setting up a dichotomy on public health. "I think that RFK Jr. has done a really good job of identifying some of the problems [in public health], but it's the solutions that are problematic," Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News. "What you're seeing with RFK Jr. and his approach to health is an individualization of public health. It's this idea that you can make decisions for your health, and that's always been true." He went on, "We need to be able to follow their guidance, not just have them tell us, 'Follow your own science.' As the focus shifts from community to individuals, we're losing a lot of that underpinning, which has led to a lot of the gains in public health." Limiting access to COVID-19 vaccines Kennedy has repeatedly stated that he is not anti-vaccine and that he supports vaccination. Shortly after Trump's election, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News that "if vaccines are working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information." During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he supported the childhood vaccination schedule and that he would not do anything as head of HHS that "makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines." Separately, in an opinion piece Kennedy wrote for Fox News in March on the nationwide measles outbreak, he said the measles vaccine helps protect individuals and provides "community immunity" but also called the decision to vaccinate a "personal one." However, last week, Kennedy announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC's immunization schedule for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women." The CDC's immunization schedule is not just a guide for doctors but also determines insurance coverage for most major private plans and Medicaid expansion programs. Following Kennedy's announcement, the schedule was updated noting all children would be eligible for COVID vaccines, but now under a shared-clinical decision-making model -- allowing parents to choose whether their children are vaccinated alongside advice from a doctor. "Regarding the vaccines, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told ABC News in a statement. "We are encouraging those groups to consult with their health care provider to help them make an informed decision. This is freedom of choice." "If you restrict access, you necessarily restrict choice," Dr. Matthew Ferrari, a professor of biology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News. "Those two things are antithetical. You can't do both. You can't say you're allowing choice if you're restricting access." Ferrari said the idea of "medical freedom" is catchy, but public health recommendations are made based on how to protect the most vulnerable individuals. "If you look at the outcomes, if you look at the consequences of that movement, it has been to disproportionately restrict access to -- and restrict support and infrastructure to allow people to access -- preventive medicine," he said. "It's sort of easy to say, 'Well, take the vaccine away. But [vaccines] prevent a future outcome of illness for yourself and for others in the community." Traditionally, the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices decides if there is a benefit to a yearly vaccine and who should get it. The independent advisory committee then makes recommendations to the CDC, which has the final say. The committee was set to meet in late June to vote on potential changes to COVID vaccine recommendations. Spencer said Kennedy's bypassing of traditional avenues when it comes to changing vaccine recommendations is also taking away choice from people. "This did not go through the normal process that it should have, and he basically just made a decision for people while at the same time saying that he's going to let people make a decision," Spencer said. Restricting foods under SNAP Kennedy has also campaigned to prevent Americans from using food stamps -- provided under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- to buy candy and soda. "It's nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans," Kennedy wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last September. At a MAHA event in late May, Kennedy said the governors of 10 states have submitted waivers to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting permission to ban SNAP recipients from using benefits to buy candy and soft drinks. "The U.S. government spends over $4 trillion a year on health care," Nixon said in a statement. "That's not freedom -- it's failure. Secretary Kennedy is unapologetically taking action to reverse the chronic disease epidemic, not subsidize it with taxpayer dollars. Warning Americans about the dangers of ultra-processed food isn't an attack on choice -- it's the first step in restoring it." Nutrition experts agree that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are unhealthy. Frequent consumption of SSBs is linked to health issues such as weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease and kidney diseases, according to the CDC. Kristina Petersen, an associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News there is a crisis of diet-related diseases in the U.S., which increase the risk of disability and reduces lifespan. However, she said there needs to be strong evidence of the benefits of restrictive policies if they are to be put in place. "In terms of limiting people's choices, it is important to consider all the different roles that food plays in someone's life, and so obviously we want people eating nutritious foods, but also we need to acknowledge that food is a source of enjoyment," Petersen said. "A lot of social situations revolve around food. So, when we're thinking about reducing people's access to given foods, we need to think about the consequences of that." One unintended consequence could be an eligible family not signing up for SNAP benefits because of the restrictions, she said. Even if a ban on buying candy and soda with SNAP benefits does occur, Petersen said she is not aware of any evidence that shows banning certain foods leads to healthier diets. She added that the nation's dietary guidelines are written to emphasize healthy foods like fruits and vegetable rather than telling people to avoid or restrict less healthy foods. "All foods can be consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern. It's really just the amount and the frequency that determines whether that pattern is helpful overall or less helpful," Petersen said. "People can have small indulgences, but really, we're interested in what is their pattern over a period of time." Providing incentives for purchasing healthier foods may be more effective and still allow people to have choice, Petersen said. A 2018 study used a model simulation to study the effects of food incentives, disincentives or restrictions in SNAP. One of the simulations involving incentives for foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and plant-based oils found to have the most substantial health benefits and be the most cost-effective. "Things like fruits and vegetables, they do tend to be more expensive, so if you incentivize them by providing more benefits … that's making the dollar go further, and it's kind of making the economic piece of this a bit stronger," Petersen said. "A lot of this is framed around personal choice. Rather than restricting access to, how can we give people more access to healthy foods? I think that's going to have the greatest benefit here."
Hamilton Spectator
3 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
‘We're people too': Canada's homeless population is aging, changing how shelters run
VANCOUVER - Seventy-one-year-old Roger Oake sat on a bench outside the Union Gospel Mission shelter in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside after breakfast. He had been sleeping at the shelter for about a month 'this time' and said that after several years of homelessness, walking 'the beat' during the day when the shelter isn't open has become harder as he gets older. 'I really don't know where to even begin. There's so many things that could or should change, but I really don't know,' he said on Wednesday. 'We're people too, you know? We're not just bums, we're not just hobos looking for a handout. We are what we are and we're at where we're at — and that's basically where it's at.' In major cities across the country, those who provide shelter and services for people who are homeless say they are seeing more elderly people turn to them for help. It's leading to a shift in how they do their jobs and the type of care they are providing. They often must juggle complex medical needs with basic considerations, like ensuring seniors get beds closest to accessible washrooms, and that power sockets are available to charge mobility scooters overnight. Nick Wells, a spokesperson for Union Gospel Mission, said more than 1,000 people sleep in the shelter every year and that the number of elderly users spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to grow. 'The number of people in the 61-to-65 age range keeps growing at about two per cent every year,' he said. 'If you look at it from 55-plus, around COVID, they accounted for about a quarter of our shelter population, and now we're up to one-third.' Wells said teams that work around B.C. have heard of seniors who do not have enough money at retirement to keep up with housing and other costs of living. Some have been evicted when their long-term rental homes are renovated, he said. 'There's been a couple cases, and these are really tragic, that a senior's gone into hospital for a health issue and had an extended stay, and then when they've come back, they've discovered that they've been evicted because they haven't paid their rent,' he said. 'So they've just come back to no home and then they end up here.' Wells said that along with helping clients complete pension or old-age security applications online, staff sometimes have to help with medical issues like Alzheimer's and dementia. In one case, a former shelter user was able to secure a spot in full-time transitional housing in the same building. But he returned to the shelter space to use the washroom. 'He remembers how to get down there. He remembers how the bathrooms are laid out, but then he needs help getting back to the (transitional housing) floor, because he can't really remember the ins and outs of going back there,' he said. 'So we will have a staff member help guide him back up. That's not a problem whatsoever, I don't want to even suggest that, but it is something that I don't think people would have thought about a couple years ago.' UNIQUE NEEDS OF HOMELESS SENIORS The Mustard Seed runs a dozen 24-hour emergency shelters in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia with a total of 747 beds. Samantha Lowe, senior director of shelter operations, said the experience of chronic homelessness can age someone differently than those with secure housing, meaning the definition of what qualifies as a 'senior' can be different than the conventional definition of 65 years old. 'Somebody who has experienced, say, chronic or episodic homelessness and has aged within that population will need those supports earlier,' she said. 'The physiological age of somebody who's experienced so much in their life, they may be 55 and they present like a 75-year-old in terms of their co-morbidities and everything they've got going on, whether that's in their lungs or their heart or their social situation or their mental health.' Lowe said staff are seeing more elderly clients who struggle to manage medications for illnesses ranging from diabetes and breathing problems to cancer, on top of the cost of housing. 'You're having to choose between that or housing. And so we're having folks who are coming in with more chronic conditions that staff are then having to be more knowledgeable about,' she said. Lowe said one shelter is able to allow oxygen tanks to be present, but that's not possible in all spaces. She said there are people in emergency shelters waiting for spots in supportive housing and dedicated seniors housing. Lowe said shelters also have clients nearing the end of their lives. 'We have people who have disclosed that they are dying of cancer, they have a certain amount of time left in the prognosis, but they're really hesitant to go into hospital, and so we work with them to see if we can get them into hospice,' she said. 'We work with them to see if we can prevent that acute crisis that they do end up in hospital, if they're hesitant to go there … but it's quite challenging.' In Toronto, the Salvation Army runs the Islington Seniors' Shelter, an 83-bed 24-hour shelter for men and women experiencing homelessness who are 55 and older. Spokesman Glenn van Gulik said the facility is at capacity, and while the organization does not maintain a wait-list, beds fill up fast when they become available. 'There's over 8,000 people who are currently experiencing homelessness within Toronto, and what we know to be true is just about 20 per cent of those who have responded … are over 55,' he said. 'It's going up.' The Islington shelter offers three-bedroom suites, each with a shared bathroom, and staff familiar with the unique needs of homeless seniors. Van Gulik said that could mean helping with dietary needs, connecting with landlords to help find rentals for people on a fixed income, or finding dental care for aging mouths. He said the style of living, with both men and women and shared spaces, also helps combat the loneliness that can come with aging. Wells said there have been steps in the right direction, like the opening of more seniors housing in B.C. He said there needs to be broad conversation between governments and health-care and service providers about the kind of wraparound supports elderly homeless people need, including more housing options and rent protections. Mo Singh Khunkhun sometimes sleeps and eats at the Union Gospel Mission emergency shelter in Vancouver. He's easy to spot, with his formerly grey beard dyed a bright purple. 'People like it, you know? I don't do boring,' he said on Wednesday. Khunkhun is 68, and worked most of his adult life, including in construction and on farms. But he has been homeless for about eight years since the heat failed in his last apartment and he fell behind on rent. He's stayed at various facilities and has watched as more seniors turn up. 'I don't know what proportion is increasing, but I'm sure there is an increase,' he said. He said he considers himself in good health, and tries to help others as they age, whether that means going for a walk, telling a joke or just having a conversation. 'Some will talk about their health issues,' he said. 'But a lot of them, they just have the camaraderie of being here, you know?' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.
