Pope Francis surprised a St. Peter's Square, Vatican, congregation by appearing in a wheelchair toward the end of a mass for the sick and health care workers.
The growing measles outbreak in the U.S. has since January infected 642 people in 22 states, per Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. That's more than the number of total cases in the country last year.
Why it matters: The outbreak comes at a time of dropping vaccination rates and declining trust in public health institutions. It's an early test of how President Trump's administration — and Kennedy — will handle public health emergencies and infectious disease surveillance.
Teams manning government hotlines for reporting adverse events from foods, supplements and cosmetics, and call centers that provide other essential safety information were among the thousands of Health and Human Services Department employees laid off last week.
The big picture: Though the department is hurriedly calling some workers back, the episodes show how information blackouts are becoming a feature of the Trump administration's efforts to reorganize the health bureaucracy.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. late Saturday was planning a hastily arranged visit to Texas after the state informed his department that a second child's death there could be linked to measles.
The death that triggered Kennedy's trip is under investigation.
Driving the news: The child involved was a member of the same Mennonite religious community that in February reported the death of an unvaccinated 6-year-old girl who had had measles.
