A weekly roundup of public health news
Public health response to disasters, outbreaks in jeopardy
Cuts to funding and the public health workforce are weakening the nation’s ability to respond to disease outbreaks, disasters and other health emergencies, a new report from Trust for America’s Health warns.
Public health readiness is threatened by layoffs across federal health agencies, less funding for health departments and uncertainty over future support, according to the organization’s annual “Ready or Not” report released May 7. The changes come as the U.S. copes with one of its worst flu seasons in years, a rise in measles cases and growing threats from extreme weather fueled by climate change.
The Trump administration cut thousands of positions across public health agencies last year, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, more than $12 billion in pandemic-era grants for disease surveillance, laboratory operations and emergency preparedness were terminated or delayed, though some cuts are being challenged.
Weakened preparedness systems could delay detection of outbreaks and slow emergency response efforts, the report warned. The disruptions have already affected state and local health departments, many of which rely heavily on federal funding and technical support.
Some states remain more prepared for emergencies than others, however. California, Florida, Maryland and New Jersey ranked on the high end of the report’s preparedness list, while Alabama, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming were at the bottom.
Higher-performing states tended to have stronger public health funding, better emergency planning systems and stronger healthcare and laboratory infrastructure. States in the lowest tier faced multiple challenges, including gaps in accreditation, weaker public health funding and higher rates of preventable deaths.
Measles cases surge as U.S. elimination status hangs in balance
The U.S. is on track to losing its measles elimination status this fall, a new analysis suggests.
The nation has already missed four of the seven public health benchmarks used to determine whether measles has been eliminated, according to the analysis, which was published May 2 in The Lancet. The remaining three indicators are also at risk as outbreaks continue across the country.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 after years of widespread vaccination campaigns reduced transmission of the highly contagious virus. Elimination does not mean measles disappeared entirely, though. Instead, it signifies that the virus stopped spreading continuously within the U.S. for at least 12 months, though cases are often imported by travelers from other countries.
As vaccination rates have fallen, disease transmission in the U.S. has risen. The U.S. recorded about 2,280 measles cases in 2025, the highest annual total in over three decades. On April 27, South Carolina declared an end to its record-breaking outbreak, which had nearly 1,000 cases of the disease — almost all of which occurred among unvaccinated people.
Most measles infections are now spreading within the U.S. rather than coming from international travel, researchers said. Only about 7% of cases that occurred in 2025 and 2026 were imported from abroad, while the rest came from local transmission.
One key measure of outbreak control is whether each infected person spreads the virus to fewer than one other person on average. The U.S. exceeded that threshold for most of the period studied, suggesting the virus continued spreading steadily within communities, according to the analysis.
The Pan American Health Organization will reevaluate America’s measles elimination status in November and may recommend it be revoked. Canada lost its measles elimination status last year after ongoing transmission there. Several European countries, including the U.K. and Spain, also lost their elimination status earlier this year.
Racial, ethnic health disparities persist across U.S.
Racial and ethnic gaps in access to care remain widespread across the U.S., threatening the health of millions of Americans, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report.
Black, Hispanic and American Indian and Alaska Native people in the U.S. continue to face higher rates of uninsurance, more barriers to care and worse health outcomes than white and Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations, the April 26 report found. The disparities are tied to differences in healthcare access, affordability and treatment, as well as broader social and economic conditions, researchers said.
Many of the gains in health insurance coverage seen during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic have eroded since Medicaid auto-enrollment ended and other federal protections expired. Millions of people have lost Medicaid coverage, with Black and Hispanic communities disproportionately affected, according to the report.
Rising costs are also forcing more Americans to skip medical care, with wide disparities by race and ethnicity. About 21% of Hispanic adults reported going without care they needed in 2024, at 21%, followed by American Indian and Alaska Native adults, at 17%, according to the report. About 13% of Black adults, 9% of white adults and 8% of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults also skipped care because of costs.
Disparities in preventive care for children also were widespread. In all but eight states, Black and Hispanic children were less likely than white children to receive recommended medical and dental preventive visits in the past year. Children in Spanish-speaking households were also less likely to have a regular source of care or recent preventive visits.
Policy changes made under the Trump administration are likely to deepen disparities further, researchers predicted. Those changes include cuts to federal health funding, new restrictions on immigrant access to coverage, changes to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment rules and the expiration of tax credits that had lowered insurance costs for millions of people.
Other recent public health news of note includes:
• As much as 16% of plant species around the world could become extinct in the next 70 years because of climate change, new research predicts. Published May 7 in Science, the study found habitat loss is expected to drive most extinctions. Researchers analyzed nearly 68,000 plant species and found many could lose more than 90% of their suitable habitat by 2100 under current climate projections. Southern Europe, the western U.S. and southern Australia are expected to face especially high extinction rates.
• Women firefighters are more likely to experience pregnancy complications than their peers in other occupations, according to new findings in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Published April 29, the study found women firefighters had higher odds of preterm birth, and their babies were more likely to be admitted to neonatal intensive care units compared with women in other jobs. Firefighters face repeated exposure to smoke, chemicals, stress, heat and long shifts, all of which may affect reproductive health, researchers noted.
• Healthcare costs in the U.S. have reached crisis levels, according to an April 30 presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Financial barriers to care are worsening health outcomes and contributing to medical debt, which is a leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. Chronic disease, high treatment prices, administrative barriers and underinvestment in prevention and public health are major drivers of rising costs, the advisory said.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist. two decades of experience as a public health journalist.
