A4
East Oregonian
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
The danger of measles is too easy to forget
A
s a society, we have made
such progress against
once-common illnesses that
we forget they are still around and
still potentially life-threatening. The
measles outbreak in Southeast Wash-
ington exemplifies what can happen
if we lower our vigilance – and our
vaccinations.
High rates of vaccination kept
measles under control in the U.S.,
with about 60 cases annually during
2000 to 2010, according to the Mayo
Clinic. In recent years, that average
has climbed to 205 cases, most often
among people who either were unvac-
cinated or did not know whether they
were. There were 350 cases in the U.S.
last year.
As of this writing, 35 confirmed
cases and 11 suspected cases have
occurred this month in Clark County,
Washington, and one in Oregon’s
Multnomah County. At least 30 of
the patients had not been immunized
– even though getting the combined
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is
safer than contracting measles.
Measles is so contagious, and
potentially fatal in young children,
that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has
declared a state of emergency. Peo-
ple who visited more than 40 locations
in the Vancouver-Portland area might
have been exposed.
“It’s one of the most contagious
viruses we have. It can have really
serious complications,” said Dr. Alan
Melnick, the Clark County health offi-
cer. “And it’s entirely preventable with
considered most probable to cause
an outbreak. That is why getting a
flu vaccine each year matters. Many
Americans don’t do so.
Influenza and related conditions
hospitalized 1,562 people in Oregon
last year and led to the deaths of three
children. Although last year’s vaccine
was less effective, an Oregon Health
Authority study found that seniors
who got high-dose flu shots were less
likely to be hospitalized.
“Pandemic,” a popular board game,
shows how easily diseases can spread.
The Vancouver-Portland measles out-
break is not nearly an epidemic, let
alone a pandemic. Neither is this
year’s flu season in Oregon.
But it is worth noting that this
winter is the 100th anniversary of
the worst pandemic in recorded his-
tory. As the flu mutated into a global
killer, it took the lives of 50 million to
100 million people, including about
AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File
A flyer educating parents about measles is displayed on a bulletin board in 2015 at a pediat- 675,000 in the U.S. during the course
rics clinic in Greenbrae, Calif.
of one year.
This grim anniversary is a reminder
an incredibly cheap and safe vaccine.” couver-Portland area, combined with
that we dare not forget the past, ignore
an increase in flu cases, has caused
But the measles vaccination rate in
what
could happen in the future – or
some Oregon hospitals to restrict
Clark County was only 78 percent.
fail to get our vaccinations.
visitors.
People forget that measles killed
To quote a Washington Post
Flu is so common that people often
hundreds of people each year, and
forget about its potential consequences story from last year about the pan-
caused serious health complications
for thousands more, before the disease as well. Yet influenza and related com- demic, “the 1918 nightmare serves a
reminder. If a virulent enough strain
was declared eradicated in the U.S. at plications killed an estimated 80,000
were to emerge again, a century of
Americans last winter, far above a
the start of the 21st century.
modern medicine might not save mil-
typical year because last year’s vac-
But measles persisted elsewhere.
lions from dying.”
Around the world, more than 100,000 cine was not as effective.
There were no worthwhile flu vac-
The influenza virus mutates, so
people die from measles each year,
cines in 1917-18. There are today, just
each year’s vaccine is formulated to
most of them children under age 5.
as there is a measles vaccine.
provide immunity against the strains
The measles outbreak in the Van-
OTHER VIEWS
The fleecing of millennials continues
F
or Americans under the age of 40, care and Social Security have been spared
the 21st century has resembled one from cuts. Programs that benefit younger
workers and families have not.
long recession.
I realize that may sound like an exagger-
The biggest example is higher educa-
ation, given that the economy has now been tion. During the past decade, states have
cut college funding by an aver-
growing for almost a decade. But
age of 16 percent per student. It’s a
the truth is that younger Ameri-
cans have not benefited much.
shocking form of economic myo-
pia. In response, tuition has risen,
Look at incomes, for starters.
People between the ages of 25 and
and students have taken on more
34 were earning slightly less in
debt. Worst of all, many students
2017 than people in that same age
attend colleges with high dropout
group had been in 2000.
rates and end up with debt but no
The wealth trends look even
degree.
D aviD
worse. Since the century’s start,
And as badly as the gov-
L eonharDt
ernment is treating the young
median net worth has plummeted
COMMENT
today, the future looks even more
for every age group under 55.
Why is this happening? The
ominous.
main reason is a lack of economic dyna-
First, the national debt, while man-
ageable now, is on pace to soar. The pri-
mism. Not as many new companies have
mary cause is the cost of health care: Most
been forming since 2000 — for reasons
that experts don’t totally understand — and Americans receive far more in Medicare
benefits than they paid in Medicare taxes.
existing companies have been expanding
The Trump tax cut also plays a role. It is
at a slower rate. (The pace of job cuts has
increasing the debt — and it mostly bene-
also fallen, which is why the unemploy-
ment rate has stayed low.) Rather than start- fits older, affluent households.
ing new projects, companies are sitting on
Second, the warming planet is likely to
big piles of cash or distributing it to their
cause terrible damage and bring huge costs.
shareholders.
Young Americans favor aggressive
This loss of dynamism hurts millenni-
action, now, to slow climate change. But
als and the younger Generation Z, even as
the Republican Party — which wins elec-
baby boomers are often doing OK. Because tions with strong support from older voters
— has vetoed any such action. As a result,
the layoff rate has declined since 2000,
greenhouse gases keep spewing into the
most older workers have been able to hold
atmosphere, and the climate crisis is likely
on to their jobs. For those who are retired,
to be far worse than it needs to be. Today’s
their income — through a combination of
young Americans will be left to suffer the
Social Security and 401(k)s — still out-
paces inflation on average.
consequences and bear the costs.
But many younger workers are strug-
Last week, one of those young Ameri-
cans — somebody who qualifies as an older
gling to launch themselves into good-pay-
ing careers. They then lack the money to
millennial — announced that he was run-
ning for president: the 37-year-old mayor
buy a first home or begin investing in the
of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg. A
stock market. Yes, older workers face their
Navy veteran and Rhodes scholar who’s
own challenges, like age discrimination.
been praised by Barack Obama, Buttigieg
Overall, though, the generational gap in
is a rising star in Democratic politics. But
both income and wealth is growing.
Given these trends, you’d think the gov-
of course he is a long shot to win the nom-
ernment would be trying to help the young. ination. He is the mayor of a moderate-size
city, after all.
But it’s not. If anything, federal and state
And yet I think his candidacy is import-
policy is going in the other direction. Medi-
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of
the East Oregonian editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page
express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
ant, because it has the potential to influence
the entire campaign. Buttigieg kicked off
his run by talking about “intergenerational
justice” and made clear that he would focus
sharply on the future. After we spoke Fri-
day, I looked at my notes and discovered he
hadn’t said “Trump” once.
During our conversation, I asked him
how he hoped to win over older Ameri-
cans — who, to their credit, vote at much
higher rates than the young — and he told
me an intriguing story. When he first ran
for mayor of South Bend in 2011, he had
the money to conduct only one poll. In it,
his team asked voters how they would feel
about having such a young mayor. The
group most likely to see it as an advantage
were the oldest voters.
“Many of the people who respond most
positively to a moral message about the
future are older people,” he said. “The
American story is one of making sure that
each generation is better off than the last. I
don’t want my generation to be the first not
to enjoy that. But I also think older gener-
ations don’t want to be the ones to cause
that.”
There are some unavoidable trade-offs
between the young and the old: A dollar
spent on Medicare is unavailable for uni-
versal pre-K. But the country’s biggest
economic problems aren’t about hordes of
greedy old people profiting off the young.
They’re about an economy that showers
much of its bounty on the already affluent,
at the expense of most Americans — and of
our future. The young pay the biggest price
for these inequities.
That’s a vital subject for the 2020 cam-
paign, whoever the leading candidates end
up being.
———
David Leonhardt is a columnist for the
New York Times.
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