Measles, a disease so effectively treated that the U.S. declared it eliminated from our country 25 years ago, is making a grim comeback. And despite California’s status as a comparatively well vaccinated state, residents here won’t be spared — and lower-income families and communities, as always, will be most vulnerable to its spread.
That concern has been real enough all year, even though the number of officially confirmed cases nationally — 1,356 as of Aug. 5, the most recent reporting period — would strike many people as miniscule in a country of 340 million.
Two things about that, though: 1. The number, while appearing small, marks the worst spread of the disease in the U.S. in more than three decades; and 2. Public health experts say the total is an undercount — perhaps a severe one…