Readers Write: Texas measles death, public safety

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Yesterday marked a grim milestone: A child died of measles in Texas, the first in a decade and just the second in a quarter century (“Child dies as measles spreads across West Texas,” front page, Feb. 27). Minnesotans should not feel protected by the roughly 1,000 miles between the epicenter of the Texas outbreak and Minnesota; every day there are dozens of flights that can bring an exposed person from Texas (or other areas as the outbreak spreads) to your community before any sign of the disease is present, with people able to spread the virus four days before the classic rash appears. Once someone develops measles, 90% of unvaccinated people who encounter that person will develop measles, with 1 in 5 needing hospitalization for it.

Importantly, while the Texas outbreak is centered in an area with many unvaccinated children, the Texas measles vaccination rate for kids entering kindergarten (94.3%) is better than Minnesota’s (87%, according to CDC data). The elementary school I went to in the St. Cloud district has a rate of 86.7%, with others being in the 70% range. This is not limited to outstate areas — multiple suburban schools (Roseville, Hopkins, Eden Prairie, etc.) and also in Minneapolis and St. Paul have rates below 80% or even 70%.

These schools are tinder piles waiting for a match to land — and right now there are hundreds of matches traveling across our country. Parents can look up their school’s vaccination rates for the 2023-24 school year by downloading this spreadsheet from the state Department of Health (tinyurl.com/KGVaxRates), or better yet, they should go get their kids vaccinated.

Dimitri Drekonja, Minneapolis

The writer is an infectious-disease physician.

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The first child has died from the recent measles outbreak in Texas. A young life inexcusably and negligently cut short.

In all 50 states we are required to use belted car seats for young children. We do not allow ignorant parents to endanger their children in cars, so why do we do so with proven health care? Adults may have the choice to refuse helpful medical care for themselves. Children don’t have that choice. They are forced into serious danger by their parents ignoring the urgent recommendations of their own doctors.

If a child gets ill from an immunization-preventable disease, the parents should be cited with a fine just like child seat infractions. If the child is hospitalized, they should be charged with child abuse. If a child dies, they should be charged with involuntary manslaughter. These sanctions should apply even for religious objections, though I know that opens a whole legal can of worms. But in these medical refusal cases, children did not get to choose their religion and whether to follow its requirements.

Parents are supposed to protect their children and use the best knowledge and proven practices available at the time to do so. When they don’t, the rest of society at large, i.e. the state, steps in to do so in their place. These children are valuable and our future. We have a right as a society to step in when parents do stupid things and hurt or needlessly endanger their children. Time to be consistent and step up to our duty on this.

Dennis Fazio, Minneapolis

Overlooking Andy Brehm’s name calling (e.g.: “radical,” “loony,” “unserious,” and “misfits” in the first two paragraphs alone), I agree with Brehm when he argues that crime is too high and that people without housing are overrepresented as both victims and perpetrators of crime ("Minneapolis continues to fail on public safety," Strib Voices, Feb. 25). Brehm argues that Minneapolis residents should vote in new City Council leaders. I would argue that we need to look at the bigger picture — given we voted in a 34-time convicted felon to lead our nation, we obviously have a bigger problem regarding crime than just our Minneapolis City Council.

Brehm states that he doesn’t believe City Council members are adequately supportive of the police (e.g.: reduced funding for a recruitment campaign and the mounted horse patrol). Compare those actions to President Donald Trump pardoning convicted criminals who beat and maimed at least 138 officers resulting in five deaths. That’s not what I would call being supportive of the police. Some of the solutions that I think we might be able to agree on are addressing the housing crisis, mental health and substance use illnesses and increasing gun safety measures.

I understand the number of people going into law enforcement in Minneapolis (and around the country) is below what is needed. I also know our society doesn’t have enough doctors, nurses, teachers, counselors, etc. Maybe instead of discouraging immigration, we could encourage new Americans to fill these critical roles and stop reinforcing criminality by electing criminals and allowing them to pardon police beaters.

Sadie McKinley, Minneapolis

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Thanks to Brehm for continuing to shine a light on several members of the Minneapolis City Council for their apparent indifference to the dangerously low number of trained law enforcement officers in the city, down to 570 last year compared to more than 800 in 2020. According to a recent Minnesota Star Tribune analysis, violent crime remains elevated above pre-COVID levels in Minneapolis, with murder up 58%, auto theft 123% higher and aggravated assault 30% above 2019 numbers. Seriously troubling statistics for city, suburban and greater Minnesota residents alike, since we all make at least occasional forays into the state’s largest municipality.

But after all this time, it’s obvious that statistics alone are not enough to flag down the attention of most on the council. And while many know, or have known, victims of crime, I’m afraid that relaying their unfortunate incidents of trauma to city officials, anecdotally, is not forceful enough, either. I have a couple of thoughts. The Strib could consider initiating a crime victim column, perhaps once a month or quarterly, where the unfortunate human targets (it could easily be you or me) of assaults, burglaries or carjackings are allowed to express their harsh, real-life experiences of losing credit cards, cellphones, teeth, vehicles, jobs or the ability to walk or think straight. And Minneapolis could hold regular listening sessions at City Hall, where crime victims, given voice, could help city officials better understand the consequences of continuing with a skeleton police force by fleshing out dry crime statistics with personal accounts of the stark realism of the streets. It’s the least we could do for the most underserved segment of our population.

Bruce L. Lindquist, St. Louis Park

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Brehm ought to remember that as the strong mayor, Jacob Frey has all of the power with regard to the Minneapolis Police Department and community safety. He oversees violence interrupters and the police. So if we are talking about crime rates increasing, all of the blame should be laid at Frey’s feet. He has been in power for eight years and been the strong mayor for nearly four of those years. And yet the paper of record cannot (or perhaps will not) hold him accountable for the failures of his administration.

City Council passed a budget amendment to hire five civilian investigators for MPD. Frey vetoed that budget. City Council came up with the money and plan for a Community Safety Center on Lake Street. Frey fought the project every step of the way and then took credit for it when it opened.

I would hope that a contributing columnist for the Star Tribune would deal in facts and data, rather than fearmongering and pointing fingers.

Naomi Wilson, Minneapolis