Credit where credit is due:
In the 1850's there was a Plague outbreak in San Fransisco's Chinatown.
It was detected early on by a local physician, who promptly reported it to City Hall, and recommended a rat catching program, quarantine, and general clean up of the area.
The city fathers refused to acknowledge that there was Plague in their fair city. It festered until the problem could no longer be ignored, and finally a cleanup of Chinatown was instituted.
But by then Plague had spread from the rats to the ground squirrel population. Now one can be exposed to the Plague anywhere in the western US.
Feel free to draw parallels to any more recent plagues...
Ah, that makes sense. If it was in the rat population, well they can only survive in proximity to us, so we could control it. With squirrels, we’ve got no such luck. Good thing I don’t live out West, because I like to feed the squirrels, they’re my buds :)
Government?