Hepatitis A seems to have resurged in San Diego, California a bit over three years ago. It traveled north from there and reached Washington state I think like over a year ago.

In the meantime, I've seen articles about "the return of Medieval diseases" to California on the front page of HN.

The reason this stuff should concern you is not simply compassion for the poorest of the poor but because disease can be caught by anyone. If you create conditions that serve as a breeding ground for serious illness in some people, you create conditions that put everyone at risk.

This is also why more developed countries need to be concerned with what goes on in less developed countries: We are breeding antibiotic resistant infections in some places due to a lack of adequate hygiene and then sometimes those people get medevaced elsewhere for treatment.

The issue here is not "Wow, we treat homeless people like crap!" Yeah, we do. The issue is "And even if you don't care how we treat homeless people, you should care that we are breeding diseases that we see as in the past and this puts everyone at risk."

Social justice issues are public health issues a la "The life you save may be your own."