Measles Cases In The U.S. Just Hit 1,000. RFK Jr. Still Isn't Taking It Seriously.
Cases of measles in the U.S. surpassed 1,000 for just the second time in 30 years this week. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still isn't taking it seriously.
The deadly and fast-spreading outbreak that first started in western Texas in January has spread to at least 31 states, with 1,001 cases in total reported, according to Friday data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas currently has the most cases at 709. Three unvaccinated people have died, including two school-aged children from Texas. Data from the CDC shows that 96% of cases in the U.S. came from people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. More than 120 people have been hospitalized.
As the onslaught continues, Kennedy ― an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who now heads the nation's top health agency ― has routinely downplayed the deadly spread, including promoting a range of unproven treatments.
After the death of a 6-year-old boy in February, Kennedy said the child's death was 'not unusual.'
'We have measles outbreaks every year,' he said at the time.
But this spread is unlike others the U.S. has previously seen, becoming the second-highest case count in 25 years.
After facing criticism, Kennedy slightly walked back his comments after attending the funeral of an 8-year-old Texas girl who died from measles at the start of April.
'The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,' he posted on X.
But since then, Kennedy has continued to downplay the continued spread of measles and the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine, which treats measles, mumps and rubella.
At the end of April, Kennedy baselessly claimed that the measles vaccine 'contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles.' Less than a week later, he went on a TV appearance to tell parents to 'do your own research' on vaccines. Kennedy did not specify any sources parents should look at.
And earlier this month, Kennedy announced the HHS would look into using vitamins as a possible treatment for measles.
The directive comes because Kennedy and department officials 'recognize that some individuals and communities across the U.S. may choose not to vaccinate,' HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement.
Kennedy also announced this month that the HHS will now require placebo testing for 'all new vaccines.' Health experts warn that the changes could seriously delay a vaccine's release and lead to making vaccines less accessible. It could also create situations in which someone needing a life-saving vaccine could instead receive a placebo, which is an inert substance that does not contain the vaccine.
'You are watching the gradual dissolution of the vaccine infrastructure in this country,' Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Washington Post. 'The goal is to make vaccines less available and less affordable.'
Making matters worse, thousands of workers at the HHS were laid off earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump's continued purge of civil servants. On Monday, more than a dozen states sued the Trump administration over the firings, arguing that the cuts brought important work at the agency to a 'sudden halt.'
Despite Kennedy's seemingly-lax response to the spread and his continued denigration of vaccines, the CDC still recommends vaccinations as the best way to prevent measles.
'Measles is an airborne, extremely infectious, and potentially severe rash illness,' the CDC's website says. 'Before the measles vaccine was introduced, an estimated 48,000 people were hospitalized and 400–500 people died in the United States each year.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bipartisan SEPSIS Act Reintroduced in U.S. Senate With Broad Support
Sepsis bill targets one of the nation's deadliest and most costly health crises with systemic solutions and backing of healthcare leaders WASHINGTON, June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- END SEPSIS proudly announces the reintroduction of the SEPSIS Act (S.1929), a bipartisan bill that marks a significant step toward creating a comprehensive national response to the sepsis crisis. First introduced in September 2024, the legislation was officially reintroduced into the new Congress on Thursday, June 5, 2025. The bill is co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), and Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ)—underscoring growing bipartisan momentum. It also has the support of major healthcare leaders, including the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals, further validating the urgent need for legislative action. About the SEPSIS Act. The SEPSIS Act addresses the massive human and financial toll sepsis imposes on American families and the healthcare system. The bill proposes a targeted federal investment of $20 million annually to accelerate the implementation of HHS, CDC, and CMS-led sepsis initiatives. Through key provisions, the bill would: Expand outreach and education to hospitals to encourage adoption of the CDC's comprehensive new sepsis guidelines, Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements. Finalize and implement a sepsis outcome measure. A sepsis outcome measure would have significant, system-wide impacts on U.S. healthcare through: Standardizing sepsis care across hospitals Incentivize hospitals to improve, process that would lead to reductions in mortality and morbidity Lowering healthcare costs by implementing effective early interventions Drive Data Transparency and Quality Improvement by requiring hospitals to report sepsis outcomes publicly Strengthen sepsis programs nationwide by encouraging greater hospital investment in sepsis care Improve data collection on pediatric sepsis Create an incentive program for hospitals to improve sepsis outcomes Continued Advocacy on Capitol Hill To mark this important milestone, END SEPSIS returned to Capitol Hill this week to meet with key members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Discussions emphasized the staggering human and economic burden of sepsis, which leads to more than 350,000 deaths annually in the U.S. and over $60 billion in healthcare costs. "The SEPSIS Act is a turning point in our national effort to prevent avoidable sepsis deaths," said Ciaran and Orlaith Staunton, Co-Founders of END SEPSIS. "With bipartisan support and strong healthcare backing, we are closer than ever to a unified federal response that saves lives and reduces costs." END SEPSIS has long championed a comprehensive, collaborative approach involving Congress, the White House, federal agencies like CDC and CMS, research institutions, and patient advocates. With the reintroduction of the SEPSIS Act, the organization remains laser-focused on achieving legislative passage and real-world impact. About END SEPSIS: Sepsis deaths and disabilities devastate hundreds of thousands of families each year. It's our mission to end that. Through aggressive public policy initiatives and comprehensive sepsis education for adults and children, we fight to make sure that no more lives are lost to this preventable, treatable condition. Media Contact:(917) 251-0739cstaunton@ View original content: SOURCE END SEPSIS, the Legacy of Rory Staunton Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
FOIA Friday: Connolly questioned public health agency FOIA accessibility before his death
(Photo by Getty Images) One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth's leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise. In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating. Shortly before his late-May death, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Fairfax, expressed concern about the termination of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers who handled Freedom of Information Act requests. It was one of his final acts as a member of Congress before passing away following an extended battle with cancer. In his letter to the CDC's acting director, Connolly said that 'the elimination of staff responsible for facilitating FOIA strongly implies an effort by the administration to prevent the public from obtaining information about their government that they are entitled to request.' The staff cuts come as FOIA officers at the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, and other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services were also let go. Connolly also pointed out that several outbreaks of infectious disease have been reported across the country. 'Now more than ever, maintaining transparency about the operations of the broader HHS — and CDC in particular — is crucial to understanding the government's capacity to respond to such crises.' Some outbreaks are currently noted on CDC's website, but with no FOIA-dedicated staff to handle records requests, it may be harder for journalists and citizens to seek further information that could aid public health. Records obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch show that a former Richmond Fire Department employee spent over $800,000 at a company registered to his home between 2017 and 2024. Reginald Thomas, a former analyst for RFD, used his city credit card, purchase orders and invoices to spend money at RPM Supply Co., LLC. The entity is registered to a house in Henrico County that he and his wife own. Though Richmond city officials did not say how much, if any, of the total was spent on legitimate products or services, they did confirm that he is no longer an employee. His conduct has since become the subject of two investigations — one by Richmond's auditor and another by the city's inspector general. The investigation into Thomas is among the latest actions the city has taken to address a history of funding issues tied to card misuse by employees. This spring, Mayor Danny Avula announced restrictions on employees' use of purchasing cards for several months while leaders re-evaluate how employee spending is handled overall. Last year, the inspector general found that nearly $500,000 in RIchmond tax dollars were wasted or misused through use of employees' cards. The Mercury's efforts to track FOIA and other transparency cases in Virginia are indebted to the work of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit alliance dedicated to expanding access to government records, meetings and other state and local proceedings. Recently, Virginia's Department of Corrections announced and celebrated low recidivism rates, but not mentioned in the agency's news release was a note from the department's research team suggesting the achievement was due to the effects of COVID-19 on Virginia's court system. Recividism — when former prisoners reoffend and end up back in prison — is a metric law enforcement agencies often use to measure the success of rehabilitation programs or other efforts to lower crime rates. Prison reform advocates and rehabilitation advocates also view these metrics as either calls to action or reasons to celebrate programs that may benefit incarcerated people, their families, and the communities to which they return. The latest announcement from the state focuses on recidivism among former prisoners released between July 2020 and June 2021 and only examines people who returned to prison within three years of release — not those who were rearrested during the same time period, Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. About 17% of released prisoners landed back in prison, while 44% were rearrested, according to the report. While rearrests were higher, those numbers aren't counted as recidivism. Because the state's definition ties recidivism to reincarceration, it is influenced by how quickly courts deliver verdicts — and Virginia's courts were under emergency orders that slowed proceedings until the summer of 2022. 'Re-incarceration rates are lower during follow-up years impacted by COVID-19 due to court closures and sentencing delays,' the research team wrote in its report. Kyle Gibson, a spokesperson for VADOC, acknowledged that recidivism rates were lower due to COVID-19, 'but VADOC cannot conclusively say that the pandemic was the sole cause of the lower rates.' Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is seeking reelection this year, has emphasized on social media that the low recidivism rate supports his tough-on-crime approach as the state's top lawyer. In a post to X, he said there are two approaches to lowering the rate: 'hold violent repeat offenders accountable or let them out early.' 'For four years, I've fought to put violent criminals behind bars while leftist politicians demanded leniency and reduced sentences,' he added. 'We see which approach works.' While the recidivism rates have declined over the past decade, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis, the time frame that VADOC recently celebrated occurred prior to Miyares taking office. Without city council approval, the city of Roanoke overspent by $5 million last year, WSLS reported. A recent audit of expenditures found that the city's general fund exceeded the final budget. 'We are stewards of taxpayer dollars,' said newer council member Nick Hagen, who joined the city's legislative body after the issues occurred. 'They're not ours — they're the people's.' He suspected staff turnover might be part of the problem with lack of budget oversight. This is because the former city manager had stepped down, a successor was appointed, and a new city council took office. The audit also revealed that much of the overspending came from the Children's Services Act — which funds services for at-risk youth — and the city's fire department, which faced rising overtime costs and implemented pay increases. Still, to ensure spending is justified and remains within budget, WSLS reported that the city claimed to be implementing reforms. There will be more frequent budget reviews going forward, new staff will be hired, and stricter internal protocols will be put in place. Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: info@ SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Health Line
2 hours ago
- Health Line
What to Know About High Functioning Schizophrenia
When a person's schizophrenia symptoms do not appear to interfere with their daily life, their condition may be referred to as high functioning schizophrenia. But this is not an official diagnosis. Schizophrenia is a complex and varied psychiatric disorder that affects each person differently. Some people have relatively mild symptoms that come and go. Others experience more severe, persistent symptoms that interfere with their daily lives. When a person with schizophrenia is able to live a mostly independent life, hold a job, and maintain relationships, their condition is often referred to as 'high functioning.' Language matters The term 'high functioning' doesn't have a clear medical definition. Some clinicians use it to refer to people who require a lower level of assistance for daily activities. But terms like 'high functioning' and 'low functioning' don't account for people's unique life circumstances, abilities, and strengths. It's best to avoid using this kind of language outside of a conversation with your healthcare professional. What is high functioning schizophrenia? High functioning schizophrenia is a term used when people with schizophrenia are able to function well in daily life despite their diagnosis. They may have milder symptoms, or they may have developed good coping mechanisms despite having more severe symptoms. It's important to note that 'high functioning' is a subjective term and not a clinical diagnosis. And the label doesn't necessarily reflect the severity of a person's symptoms. People with high functioning schizophrenia may still experience significant challenges and need continuous treatment and support. A person's level of functioning can be influenced by a range of factors, including: Symptom severity: People with fewer or less severe symptoms may be able to function better in daily life than those with more severe symptoms. Treatment response: Those who get timely, appropriate treatment are more likely to maintain good functioning. Research from 2020 suggests that early intervention may be linked to better long-term outcomes. Personal coping strategies: Some people develop strong coping strategies that allow them to effectively manage their symptoms and prevent those symptoms from having a major effect on their daily life. Strong support network: Those with very supportive family and friends may be able to function better in daily life than those who don't have this support. Lack of other mental or physical health conditions: Many people with schizophrenia have other mental or physical health conditions that make it more difficult to function in daily life. People who don't have another condition may appear higher functioning. Symptoms of high functioning schizophrenia Any person with schizophrenia, whether it's considered 'high' or low' functioning, can experience the same types of symptoms. Schizophrenia symptoms are divided into positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Positive symptoms are those that 'add' to your personality (in other words, they weren't there before the condition). These symptoms include those of psychosis, such as: hallucinations delusions disorganized thoughts and speech atypical motor behavior (e.g., catatonia) Negative symptoms 'take away' from your personality and involve five key areas: alogia (reduction in the number of words spoken) anhedonia (reduced experience of pleasure) asociality (reduced social activity) avolition (reduced goal-directed activity, due to decreased motivation) blunted affect (difficulty expressing emotions, such as diminished facial expressions) Cognitive symptoms may include issues with: focus and attention span working memory executive functioning The negative symptoms of schizophrenia are often more challenging to treat than the positive symptoms. For some people with schizophrenia, these negative symptoms persist, even when positive symptoms are well managed. Research from 2020 suggests that negative symptoms are associated with poorer outlook and long-term disability. While many people with high functioning schizophrenia do have negative symptoms, these symptoms may be less severe. Diagnosing high functioning schizophrenia In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. text revision (DSM-5-TR), schizophrenia is now listed as a spectrum disorder. This more accurately represents the condition's wide range of symptoms that can change over time. It's important to note that high functioning schizophrenia is not a clinical diagnosis. So, whether a person exhibits a higher or lower level of functioning, they still have to meet the same diagnostic criteria. A diagnosis of schizophrenia must include at least two of the following symptoms, with one of these symptoms being among the first three: delusions hallucinations disorganized speech severely disorganized or catatonic behavior negative symptoms The symptoms must occur frequently for at least 1 month, with some symptoms lasting for more than 6 months. In addition, you'll need to have experienced reduced functioning in one or more important areas of life, such as personal relationships, work, or self-care. Treating schizophrenia Schizophrenia is typically treated with antipsychotic medication as well as various types of therapies and skills training. Schizophrenia may be treated with the following: Atypical antipsychotics: Atypical, or second-generation, antipsychotics are the first-line treatment for schizophrenia. These medications lower dopamine levels in the brain, which helps target symptoms of psychosis. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT helps people with schizophrenia identify and fix unhelpful thought processes and behaviors. Social skills training: Social skills interventions help people with schizophrenia learn social and independent living skills. These may include classes covering interpersonal skills and medication management. Cognitive remediation: This intervention focuses on skills such as attention, memory, and flexible thinking. Social cognition training: This intervention targets skills such as social perception (understanding social cues or body language), emotion perception (identifying others' emotions), and theory of mind (identifying and understanding another person's mental state). Some people with high functioning schizophrenia may have achieved symptom remission after responding well to treatment. Symptom remission means that your symptoms are mild enough to not significantly interfere with your life. Research from 2018 suggests that symptom remission is possible in 20% to 60% of people with schizophrenia, but this depends on many complex factors.
