Trump administration’s shutdown of CDC information imperils nation’s health

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

It’s really difficult to take MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) seriously when the numbers don’t add up — because the Trump administration is hiding the numbers.

For example, the U.S. has logged 14 cases of measles this season, according to the website of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, Texas has confirmed at least 58 cases within the previous three weeks, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported on Feb. 18.

Unless Texas has seceded from the Union, as many Texans have advocated for decades, and its measles cases don’t count, the national tally is drastically off of the actual total of 72 cases. What’s more, the outbreak appears to have leaped across state lines, as the New Mexico Department of Public Health reported Tuesday that eight cases have been confirmed in counties neighboring Texas.

The correct answer to pinpoint accurate numbers is, amazingly enough: politics. Among the many federal health websites that have gone dark — or at least, gray — since Donald Trump became president again is the CDC, which previously issued weekly disease updates.

The CDC’s most recent measles update occurred on Feb. 7, the same date the agency announced that, under Trump administration orders, it would begin refreshing the site monthly.

The service cutback is frustrating health officials nationwide as hospitals, doctors and states operate in a vacuum of statistics even as cases increase — not only of measles but also as influenza ravages the land in a wicked season.

A measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, and the disease was virtually eradicated by 2000, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The disease, which is considered one of the most contagious viruses in the world, sometimes is fatal. Typically, though, the virus causes a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. It usually begins a week or two after exposure through breathing, with a rash breaking out a few days later.

The country has experienced periodic measles outbreaks of fewer than 300 cases during several years since 2000 — usually among unvaccinated populations.

Indeed, the west Texas outbreak is centered in a rural area with a high population of Mennonites, who don’t believe in vaccinations. The state health agency reported its first measles alert concerning that area on Feb. 5 that 16 cases had been diagnosed, and announced on Feb. 17 that the number had ballooned to at least 49.

The agency also had confirmed two cases in Houston in January, with those cases attributed to the victims’ international travel. Health officials in the epicenter of the Texas outbreak in Gaines County suspect there may be as many as 200 to 300 cases. Most cases in the outbreak involve school-age children, and 13 had been hospitalized — a statistic markedly different from the CDC’s outdated information that only six of 14 patients nationwide were hospitalized.

The outbreak has occurred even as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been installed as Trump’s Health and Human Services director. Kennedy, whose children are vaccinated, is skeptical of vaccines, especially measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shots.

If a Texas outbreak seems remote and of little concern to Minnesotans, consider the fact that the Gopher State is on track to record its highest number of influenza cases requiring hospitalization in more than a decade, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. As of Feb. 8, the MDH tallied more than 6,500 flu-related hospitalizations in the 2024-25 season. That compares with 4,022 in the 2019-20 season, 35 in 2020-21, 905 in 2021-22, 3,338 in 2022-23 and 4,375 in 2023-24, according to the MDH.

The flu season nationwide is raging, although the CDC hasn’t posted stats since early this month. Fortunately for Minnesota, it didn’t make the top 25. Yet. But how will we know, with hidden numbers? Unfortunately for the country, hiding statistics and casting doubt on vaccines’ effectiveness imperils everyone’s health.

MAHA — ha-ha.

Mike Tighe, who lives in Shoreview, is a retired veteran journalist who has worked at several newspapers and other outlets in the country, including the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune, where he was a health reporter.