Infectious diseases are tearing through American cities right now. We are in the midst of the worst hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history; the incidence of all three nationally reported sexually transmitted diseases have recently reached record highs; cases of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic illness, doubled between 2016 and 2017; rates of hepatitis C have nearly tripled over the past five years; in 2017, New York City saw a record number of cases of Legionnaire’s Disease. These outbreaks, I argue in my piece, are driven by rising income inequality and the economic policies that drive it, as well as by changes to and strains on urban infrastructure.
