Passengers weren’t the only thing that arrived on a China Airlines flight into LAX on March 5th. Measles arrived in LA too. The passenger carrying the infectious disease marks Los Angeles County’s first local case in 2025. Now local health officials are warning others who may have been exposed by the infected individual. Even before the installation of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist RFK Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services by Trump, disease was a rising concern. Now, Los Angeles residents may be among the first to pay for the government’s anti-science campaign.
Measles Hits LA Amid Anti-Science Push
With some people going so far as to cheer falling vaccination rates, the disease’s spread in the U.S. is hardly a surprise. A case of measles in LA is worrisome for a variety of reasons, however. A highly infectious disease is a particular threat to urban areas like LA where it can quickly spread. For that reason, the LA health department has reportedly notified passengers on China Airlines flight CAL8/CI8 as well as those who traveled through Tom Bradley International Terminal on March 5th. Those who attended the same grocery and salon as the infected individual were also reportedly included.
A Reddit post on the subject by u/moodplasma garnered numerous concerned comments. One summed up what many seemed to be thinking, saying, “I hate this timeline.” Another compared the situation in the U.S. to the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, saying,
Marvelous. We’ve got Pestilence and War knocking at the front door. I wonder how long it’ll be until Famine and Death make an appearance? THEN it’ll REALLY be a party!
Measles is transmissible through the air and is transmissible even if you don’t have symptoms such as the infamous “measles rash.” That’s one reason that using a vaccine to prevent measles in the first place is so crucial. With the Trump administration hampering the ability of health departments to communicate with the public, however, infectious disease incidents of this kind will likely rise. LA may only be the first to deal with measles unless the U.S. takes a serious stand in defense of medicine and against disease and misinformation.
