When a converted Kenwood hotel opened its doors to migrants in the summer of 2023, officials who announced the news received vociferous pushback from residents. [Chicago Tribune]

They had numerous concerns about the shelter at 4900 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive: whether migrants would be vaccinated and fingerprinted; how their children would be educated; the food they would eat. And many wanted to know what Chicago was doing for the large and growing homeless population that predated the migrants’ arrival.

Almost three years later, buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have stopped arriving from the more closely surveilled southern border. The city has closed down most of the facilities it scrambled to stand up to meet waves of asylum-seekers, mostly from Venezuela. Thousands have transitioned to permanent housing. Police stations, once overflowing with newly arrived people, are empty.

What remains is a new, merged shelter network officials have dubbed the One System Initiative, which houses anyone, from anywhere, who doesn’t have a place to go. The city and state were running 28 migrant-exclusive facilities at the peak of arrivals in January of last year, according to city census data. They have collaborated with nonprofits to run 51 total sites across the system, city officials said.

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Join IOMC to learn more about its efforts with the "unsheltered and social determinants of health" at the upcoming 110th Anniversary - 2025 Leadership Awards & Annual Meeting on June 26, 2025, 5:00 PM CT - 8:00 PM CT. Be part of the movement!

Keynote Speaker: Dr. David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, Health equity advocate for over 35 years, Chicago physician, social epidemiologist, senior leader, and author. Live music, networking, dinner, and awards! Recognizing 2024-2025 Board of Governors and introducing 2025-2026 Board of Governors. More details and to register>

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Public health officials confirmed the first two cases of measles in Cook County this year Wednesday — as the illness continues to spread across the country. [Chicago Tribune]

One case is in a suburban Cook County adult resident whose vaccination status is unknown. The other case is in a Chicago adult resident who traveled internationally through O’Hare International Airport in early April, who previously had one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to a news release from the Cook County, Chicago and Illinois departments of public health.

The suburban Cook County resident went to a hospital for medical care Monday and was quickly isolated, according to health officials. The Chicago resident developed a rash April 25 and has been isolating at home since being diagnosed.

Health officials are warning that people who were at the following locations on the following dates may have been exposed:

• April 21: Chicago Public Library – Independence Branch, 4024 N. Elston Ave., Chicago
• April 21: Fittingly Delicious, 3939 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
• April 22: O’Hare Airport, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., especially in Terminal 1
• April 23: O’Hare Airport, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., especially in Terminal 1
• April 25: Aldi, 7235 39th St., Lyons, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• April 27:  Shell, 3901 S. Harlem Ave., Stickney, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• April 28: Mobil: 2945 S. Harlem Ave., Berwyn, from 10:20 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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More U.S. women died around the time of childbirth last year, reversing 2 years of decline, according to provisional data posted Wednesday. [MedPage Today]

The CDC said 688 people died last year during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth. That's up from 669 deaths in 2023, but down from 2022 and 2021, when it was the highest level in more than 50 years.

The maternal mortality rate rose to 19 deaths per 100,000 live births, up from 18.6 the year before.

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CHICAGO — A clinical trial run by the National Cancer Institute seems to confirm that a single dose of the vaccine used to prevent infection with the human papilloma virus is just as effective as two — and, therefore, also helps to prevent cancer. [STAT & KFF Health News] 

The result could transform efforts to reach the three-quarters of children globally who should receive the vaccines but don’t. The shots prevent cervical cancer and also anal, penile, and some head-and-neck cancers. Worldwide, 350,000 women die from cervical cancer, the most common HPV cancer.

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Based on estimates from this modeling study, declining childhood vaccination rates will increase the frequency and size of outbreaks of previously eliminated vaccine-preventable infections, eventually leading to their return to endemic levels. The timing and critical threshold for returning to endemicity will differ substantially by disease, with measles likely to be the first to return to endemic levels and may occur even under current vaccination levels without improved vaccine coverage and public health response. These findings support the need to continue routine childhood vaccination at high coverage to prevent resurgence of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases in the US. [JAMA]

Full details here>

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• US could see return to high levels of measles spread as vaccination rates fall
• So far this year, measles cases are up 180% over full-year 2024, CDC reported
• US outbreak already is second highest in 25 years, CDC reported. [KFF Health News and CDC]

April 24 (Reuters) - The United States is at a tipping point for the return of endemic measles a quarter century after the disease was declared eradicated in the country, researchers warned on Thursday.

At current U.S. childhood vaccination rates, measles could return to spreading regularly at high levels, with an estimated 851,300 cases over the next 25 years, computer models used by the researchers suggest.

If rates of vaccination with the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, shot were to decline by 10%, an estimated 11.1 million cases of measles would result over 25 years, according to a report of the study in JAMA,

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A total of 800 measles cases and 10 outbreaks were reported in the United States during the first 16 weeks of 2025, representing approximately a 180% increase over the 285 measles cases reported in the United States during all of 2024. Most cases have been associated with an ongoing outbreak in close-knit communities with low vaccination coverage in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. [CDC]

Overall, 11% of measles patients have been hospitalized, and three deaths have been reported. Similar to previous years (1), nearly all (96%) cases occurred in persons who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, and 77% of cases occurred in persons who were unvaccinated when excluding cases reported by Texas. Most (92%) imported cases occurred among U.S. residents returning to the United States while infectious and from all six World Health Organization regions. Adherence to standard measles control measures, including isolation and quarantine, as well as high vaccination coverage locally, prevented secondary transmission from most of these persons who were infectious after returning from travel abroad.

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Republicans are far more skeptical of vaccines and twice as likely (1 in 5) as Democrats (1 in 10) to believe the measles shot is worse than the disease, according to the survey of 1,380 U.S. adults. [KFF Health News} 

Some 35% of Republicans answering the survey, which was conducted April 8-15 online and by telephone, said the discredited theory linking the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism was definitely or probably true — compared with just 10% of Democrats.

The trends are roughly the same as KFF reported in a June 2023 survey. But in the new poll, 3 in 10 parents erroneously believed that vitamin A can prevent measles infections, a theory Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought into play since taking office during the measles outbreak.

About 900 cases have been reported in 27 U.S. states, mostly in a West Texas-centered outbreak.  

More>

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A state-backed initiative is looking to expand the behavioral health workforce.

The Department of Human Services’ Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery and the Illinois Certification Board recently recently announced new funding to help individuals looking to become certified alcohol and drug counselors. [Health News Illinois]

Chris Boyster, executive director of the Illinois Certification Board, said the program is in its second year of implementation, and they have already seen a noticeable increase in interest since it first started.

Along with covering tuition and scholarships for interested individuals, Boyster said the funds help cover wraparound services like transportation and babysitting for students. They also help retain the workforce by covering the cost of certification fees.

“Many people want to make a difference,” Boyster said. “This is an opportunity to do it and address obstacles that might hinder your success.”

He said there are over 50 individuals in this program, which includes students and those in the field. The goal at the time is to maintain stability in the workforce.

Officials say more than 1.5 million Illinoisans are affected by substance use disorder, and Boyster said resources like counselors can increase the chances of recovery.

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Even by rural hospital standards, Keokuk County Hospital and Clinics in southeastern Iowa is small. [ MedPage Today]

The 14-bed hospital, in Sigourney, doesn't do surgeries or deliver babies. The small 24-hour emergency room is overseen by two full-time doctors.

CEO Matt Ives wants to hire a third doctor, but he said finding physicians for a rural area has been challenging since the COVID-19 pandemic. He said several physicians at his hospital have retired since the start of the pandemic, and others have decided to stop practicing certain types of care, particularly emergency care.

Another rural hospital is down the road, about a 40-minute drive east. Washington County Hospital and Clinics has 22 beds and is experiencing similar staffing struggles. "Over the course of the last few years, we've had not only the pandemic, but we've had kind of an aging physician workforce that has been retiring," said Todd Patterson, CEO.

The pandemic was difficult for health workers. Many endured long hours, and the stresses on the nation's healthcare system prompted more workers than usual to quit or retire.

"There's a chunk of workers that were lost and won't come back," said Joanne Spetz, PhD, who directs the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California San Francisco. "For a lot of the clinicians that decided and were able to stick it out and work through the pandemic, they have burned out," Spetz said.

Five years after the World Health Organization declared COVID a global pandemic and the first Trump administration announced a national emergency, the United States faces a crucial shortage of medical providers, below the projected need for an aging population

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