As an outbreak of measles surges across the United States — with 704 cases this year and counting — some local health officials are trying to deal with contagion in unvaccinated communities by turning to extraordinary police powers from the past.
"Unfortunately, we are revisiting diseases from another generation," said Jason Schwartz, an assistant professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health.
"And now we are revisiting public health responses from another generation" in instances where vaccination programs have fallen short, he said.
Not long ago, measles was thought to be a problem that was mostly solved.