May Day
This past Friday, May 1st was International Workers Day or “May Day.” In solidarity with Amazon workers who are denied bathroom breaks and forced to use plastic bottles, British activist group Everyone Hates Elon hid over 300 bottles of fake urine with Jeff Bezo’s laughing face on them throughout the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. On May 4th, Bezos will visit the museum and be greeted by any undiscovered bottles on the occasion of their annual Met Gala that he has been nominated to chair.
One month ago, on April 7th, a California logistics worker at Kimberly-Clark burned down his workplace, a 1.2 million square foot toilet paper warehouse claiming that if they would not “pay us enough to live” then “there goes your inventory.”
The 2025 Reconciliation Law or “One Big Beautiful Bill” is mandating states to implement work requirements as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid by January 1, 2027. At the same time, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports that Long COVID is a growing crisis that causes roughly 20% of U.S. adults significant limitations to carrying out their daily activities. The COVID pandemic is a labor issue. Both the acute disease and Long COVID diminish the ability to work. At the same time, the value of human life cannot be reduced to its capacity to perform labor. When we celebrate May Day, we organize alongside those who cannot work or refuse to work as well, and those who carry out invisibilised, unrecognized, and often under- or uncompensated labor — including students, immigrants, caretakers and people experiencing incarceration. Despite this, measures that mitigate the added stressors of an ongoing pandemic in a system where many of us are expected to work for healthcare, food and shelter are difficult to come by.
US productivity growth, or the change in the amount of goods produced or services provided in an hour of work is higher than ever, but the vast majority of workers are suffering from decades of slow and suppressed wage growth. With this increase of productivity, the United States has the means to pursue wage equity for all of us via some form of universal basic income and universal free health services. Instead, our leaders have opted to allow CEOs to take a disproportionate share of our wages and to spend increased tax revenue on campaigns of terror internationally. With the rest of the roll out of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” over the next 2 years, the situation will become even more dire. Millions will lose access to their healthcare based on our antiquated system that privatizes health services and ties them to employability. In this country, workers and non-workers alike will have to unite to demand robust free healthcare, food, and shelter for all.
Let the actions from this May Day inspire you to action. Join up with an advocacy group in your area such as Physicians for a National Health Program to start or continue your journey in lobbying for a nationalized healthcare system. And as always, wear a mask, let the chain of transmission end with you. When the American system refuses to provide us with the resources to live healthy and creative lives, we must pool our local resources and use all of the strategies in our toolbelts to provide healthcare for our neighbors and ourselves.
The Weather
The CDC-based wastewater map was updated on April 30th, and depicts wastewater levels for the period April 19th to April 25th. It is of note that since we unveiled a new color scheme for the wastewater map on March 11th with cool tones representing “low” and “very low” levels and warm tones representing “high” and “very high” levels, the CDC has also followed suit with an updated map color that reflects the same logic. We are pleased to see the CDC take steps to move towards an appropriate sense of visual clarity.
The CDC reports that Nebraska is experiencing “high” levels, West Virginia is experiencing “moderate,” and Louisiana, Mississippi, and Washington DC are experiencing “low” levels. All other states and territories where levels were available are experiencing “very low” levels. Guam, North Dakota and U.S. Virgin Islands are reporting limited/no data. Oklahoma, Mississippi and Arkansas are reporting limited coverage, meaning that the data is based on less than 5% of the population and may not be accurate for the entire state. Regional data indicates that all regions remain at “very low” levels. National levels have continued to slightly decrease, as have levels in the West. Levels in the Midwest have stayed the same and Southern levels have experienced a slight increase.
Wins
Dr. Casey Means has stalled in the Senate over questions about her experience and her stance on vaccines. Her nomination for the future Surgeon General will not move forward. Thank you to everyone who wrote a letter urging their congressmembers to oppose her confirmation!
The president has nominated a third candidate in an attempt to fill the position, another MAHA proponent, former Fox News contributor and current director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering in Monmouth, New Jersey, Dr. Nicole Saphier. In early 2025 during the United States’s first increases in local measles outbreaks, Saphier went on record on Fox news to say that “the best way to prevent measles is to make sure that your community and your family are vaccinated.” But she has also made the inaccurate suggestion that non-immunocompromised children have died from taking the MMR vaccine and in that same news report denies that children are at risk from severe outcomes from COVID. Americans deserve a surgeon general who will make accurate public health recommendations based on proven science. Write your congress members today and urge them to reject Dr. Saphier for surgeon general as well and to reject any further MAHA nominees and anyone else who does not approve of an adequate schedule of vaccinations, including infant Hepatitis B and COVID boosters.
Other Infectious Diseases
According to WastewaterSCAN, norovirus and rotavirus are at “high” levels. It is important to maintain hand hygiene to protect against these infectious diseases, as they are spread primarily through contaminated surfaces or contaminated food or water. Norovirus can also be aerosolized from vomit, so it is important to wear a mask if you’re caring for a sick friend or family member with norovirus.
Measles
Measles continues to spread in the US. The total new measles cases per week have begun a tentative tapering off from the sharp incline we have been experiencing since November of 2025. In the past two weeks since our last report cases have increased from 1,833 nationally to 1,877. Vaccination remains the most effective tool to prevent the spread and development of a serious infection.
Source: International Vaccine Access Center
Actions
Protect COVID vaccines: The CDC is exploring a diagnosis code for adverse reactions from COVID vaccines by the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee. COVID vaccines remain an invaluable tool in the public health toolbox to protect against COVID infections. Take action and email nchsicd10cm@cdc.gov by May 15, 2026, and let them know that this diagnosis code must be carefully considered and clear guidelines must be included to indicate a cause and effect, and not purely an association.
Remove RFK Jr. petition: A recent report from Protect Our Care named RFK Jr. “Public Health Enemy No 1.” We continue to call for the removal of RFK Jr., and Stand Up For Science has created its own petition to remove RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. We encourage you to read it and sign on.
Notes: 1) The numbers in this report were current as of 4/30/2026. 2) Check out the links throughout & see our website for more at https://peoplescdc.org. 3) Subscribe to our newsletter: People’s CDC | Substack.
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