We have followed the public health crisis is Los Angeles closely, as the homeless population explosion has led to conditions ripe for an outbreak of the disease typhus.
The area’s NBC4 Investigative Team has also covered the story, and assert that the city wastes tens of millions of dollars per year in clean-up efforts because LA’s homeless encampments quickly repopulate once cleaning ends.
Nearly 15,000 homeless encampment cleanups were conducted last year in Los Angeles, a process that begins with officers clearing people from the area before sanitation workers remove trash and other items.The cleanups cost taxpayers millions of dollars, but some residents who live near the encampments said they are usually repopulated soon after sanitation crews are done. It’s a seemingly endless cycle that leads neighbors to ask whether there are better ways to spend that tax money.A stretch of sidewalk tucked under the 405 Freeway in the shadow of the West Los Angeles skyline illustrates the reasons behind their frustration. At least once per week, the 40 people who call the area home are ordered out by police so city sanitation crews can get to work.It takes hours to remove used needles, bottles of urine and piles of garbage, then powerwash the sidewalk.But just minutes after the crews leave, the homeless encampment is re-populated and the sidewalk is once again littered with the hazardous byproducts of life on the streets.”You’re wasting time, money, effort,” said Dylan, who lives in the homeless encampment near the 405 Freeway and Venice Boulevard.Neighbors agree.”It’s not a good use of our tax dollars,” said resident Roman Samiley.
The crew filmed giant rats roaming over mountains of garbage in a recent report.
Southern California’s residents should worry over the unwillingness of political leaders to make the necessary changes to address the root causes of homelessness. Furthermore, progressive politicos are in a rush to contribute to the reasons that will lead to a public health disaster.
For example, Governor Gavin Newsom indicated that the state’s disgrace is actually the nation’s in his announcement for another money-squandering task force to address the looming crisis.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called growing homelessness in California a national disgrace as he announced Tuesday that he is launching a task force to find solutions amid a housing crisis in the most populous state….Newsom made the announcement in Oakland, where county officials said the number of homeless people rose 43 percent over the last two years. Recent data from other counties has shown large increases, too.
As a bonus, Newsom proposed extending Medicaid to illegal immigrants, which should exacerbate the situation. Hopefully, the hospitals won’t run out of free typhus treatments.
Even more worrisome is the potential for an outbreak of diseases even worse than typhus. Cholera, typhoid, and Hepatitis A can potentially spread under these unsanitary conditions. But worse pathogens which, like typhus, can spread by rodents.
The steamship caused the last global outbreak of bubonic plague. Climate change could cause the next one.Longer, hotter weather patterns are extending the breeding season of rats and rodents, leading to a steep increase in their numbers in places like Los Angeles, New York and Houston. Over the last decade, urban rat populations are up by 15% to 20% worldwide, thanks to a combination of climate changes and a greater preference among humans for urban living, increasing the amount of trash available for scavengers, according to estimates from Bobby Corrigan, a rodent control consultant and one of the nation’s leading rat experts.The swelling number of rodents isn’t just an urban nuisance. More importantly, all those additional rats and squirrels can serve as hosts for fleas carrying the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis. The disease is already endemic among fleas that feast on rural squirrels in California, Arizona, Wyoming and other states. Climate change could make it possible for plague-carrying fleas to thrive in more places than they do now, bringing the disease into closer contact with humans.
The fact that the media is pre-blaming a plague outbreak on “climate change” is a potential warning signal that our politicians have no serious plan to address the lack of sanitation in our urban centers.
So, if a plague does arise, they will blame fossil fuels instead of a whole plethora of progressive policies that have led to giant rats roaming mountains of garbage.
Hopefully, there will be plenty of free antibiotics available when that particular disease strikes.
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