California has over an estimated
115,000 homeless people. And laws have been passed in multiple locales that prohibit law enforcement from enforcing housing ordinances,
allowing the tent cities to grow uninhibited.
Although no one knows the exact reason for the outbreak, it is thought that it may have started when San Diego made an effort to clean up the area around Petco Park for the MLB All-Star Game. The city caused the homeless, the prostitution trade and the drug dealers to move to areas away from the downtown tourist venues. In an effort to bring that about, the city locked public restrooms. Additionally,
San Diego banned the use of plastic bags, which have long been used by the homeless to dispose of human waste when there are no public bathrooms. It is thought that this set of circumstances has contributed heavily to the Hepatitis A outbreak.
Dr. Monique Foster, who is an epidemiologist with the Division of Viral Hepatitis at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the outbreak will likely continue, even with efforts to contain it, “It’s not unusual for them to last quite some time — usually over a year, one to two years.”
Californians, this is your tax dollars at work