personal freedoms and health

measles and beyond

We spent a relaxing Saturday around Lancaster, Pennsylvania, bathed in sunlight. Initially opened in the 1730s, the Amish market was a busy spot with hundreds of people drawn to the delicious food and handicraft stalls. We skipped the meat vendors on either end of the block-wide block-long structure, but a twenty-something woman in an Amish dress sold me the most glorious Brussels sprouts and Yukon gold potatoes as I marveled at the low prices. When one gets away from the big city, prices are reasonable, and produce is welcomingly fresh. thank goodness I only had two hands to carry anything I saw. Not everyone was Amish, however, as another stall had empanadas de espinaca (spinach empanadas), a vegan twist on my South American fave.

We dined on a delicious French lunch about two blocks' walk. I didn't expect the flavorful taste to electrify my pallet, even if only a chickory and frisee salad. We were so satisfied that we passed on the spectacular dessert display of macarons, tortes, homemade jams, and sauces. I am hardly a French connoisseur (or connoisseuse?) as French cuisine is rarely vegan, but one of us had spent ages in France, assuring us the meal was quite authentic. Globalization worked in the heart of southern Pennsylvania.

I mention this as a reminder that the world does not revolve solely around Ukraine, internal GOP funding battles, or firing employees who work for the taxpayers. Hundreds of people streamed along Lancaster's streets, absorbed in their Saturday chores or, as we were, enjoying a market town drawing countless people from far and wide. It was the best of Americana.

On the way home, we passed several Amish buggies, as one might not expect in the relatively harsh, cold wind. We didn't see horses hitched at any posts, however.

I mentioned the visit to my son, the demographer, on Sunday. He immediately noted that the current measles outbreak originated in a county with the second-highest concentration of German speakers in the country. He hypothesized that the county's concentration of Amish probably accounted for the outbreak because of growing religious concerns and overall opposition to vaccine mandates. He acknowledged tracking that sort of phenomenon excites him more about evolutionary biology than projecting plant populations after massive fires eradicate growth (I can understand that choice, too).

Indeed, this morning's Wall Street Journal had the same hypothesis my son offered yesterday. Young Amish, rather than my geezer generation, are eschewing the vaccines because of doubts that the dangers of the disease are severe. Additionally, iron-clad preferences for personal choice over the government imposing its own will motivate people to omit vaccinations. Gaines County is the epicenter of the two hundred-plus cases now identified in the Lone Star state and across the border in New Mexico. While only two fatalities are known, one in five people who contract the highly contagious virus require hospitalization, an expense likely to wallop this community's residents. The Amish and their neighbors in Gaines County do not seem to care.

Measles is showing up elsewhere around the globe, with danger lurking for a far greater number of cases. A traveler transited Dulles International Airport serving the national capital region last Wednesday before spending time across the state line in a Howard County emergency pediatric ward two days later. This particular vector indicates measles from abroad could have exposed hundreds, if not thousands, of others at their embarkation airport, in transit on the flight, in customs and immigration, or awaiting a checked suitcase, then in a Maryland medical facility treating vulnerable and unhealthy children.

I have yet to see further details on the individual. Still, the public health warning of possible exposure takes me back precisely five years to our initial grasp of a spreading coronavirus that killed millions worldwide. COVID-19 was a "novel" virus for which no one had immunity, which is not the case with measles. In the era before roughly 2000, when "movie stars and influencers" began citing purported and now disproven dangers of the vaccinations, millions around the world eagerly received the measles vaccine to prevent significant illness. The virus is roaring back, threatening more misery of the sickness while decreasing overall global immunity.

We are in an era where people increasingly demand to decide everything about health themselves as if we were all equally knowledgeable about illnesses. Do we know all we need, or do we prefer our reality version?

All of this occurs as anxiety, especially among public health professionals, about the dangers of trans-border illnesses multiplying as a result of a combination of effects from climate change altering the viruses themselves, poor sanitation, and increased global transit. Scientists worry that eradicating USAID funding focused on overseas disease mitigation could bring remote problems like hemorrhagic fevers to our shores precisely as cuts paralyze the Centers for Disease Control monitoring capacity. The variety of communicable—via a multitude of vectors—illnesses is growing as global capacity, particularly in poorer areas, is becoming a more expensive, if not less feasible, challenge.

While globalization is experiencing a downturn in trade and governance, travel is making the world more linked. Yet the reality of this paradox does not seem to raise many concerns, as it does for me.

Actions create consequences. I'd like to know which effects we are yet to see regarding personal freedoms and cost savings. Five years to the month after the COVID shutdowns that convulsed our society, how would we handle another highly communicable disease, and to what effect?

I welcome your thoughts on these questions about changing perceptions across our society. I do not pretend to have answers but worry we are not raising enough questions to prepare ourselves for possible scenarios. Please chime in, as we need dialogue now rather than when it's too late.

I include a photograph of the crocus I found as we walked this morning. I am delighted by the color and the dark pink hyacinth I uncovered this morning in a pot on the front patio.

I appreciate your time and hope you will circulate this if you find it valuable. I thank those who support this column as paid subscribers, whether as a yearly contributor at barely a dollar a week or as a monthly subscriber. Your investment offers me resources to reach into new areas for ideas, hopefully with better consequences.

Be well and be safe. FIN

Apoorva Mandavilla, “How Foreign Aid Cuts are setting the Stage for Disease Outbreaks“, NewYorkTimes.com, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/health/usaid-funding-disease-outbreaks.html

Sumathi Reddy, “In rural Texas, a Measles Outbreak Hasn’t Swayed Vaccine Sketpics”, WallStreetJournal.com, retrieved at https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/in-rural-texas-a-measles-outbreak-hasnt-swayed-vaccine-skeptics-ca515ba7?mod=hp_lista_pos1

Tiffany Watson, “Howard County Resident test positive for measles after trip overseas”, Annapolis Capital-Gazette, 10 March 2025: A4.