{"id":11157,"date":"2025-02-24T07:51:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T12:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=11157"},"modified":"2025-02-23T16:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T21:58:39","slug":"doge-descends-on-public-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2025\/02\/24\/doge-descends-on-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"DOGE Descends on Public Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"firstcharacter\">B<\/span>reaking News! It\u2019s official: The official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apha.org\/events-and-meetings\/national-public-health-week\">Public Health Week<\/a> may be in April, but Elon Musk has declared the month of February to henceforth be known as MAGA\/PH &#8212; &#8220;Make America Gasp Again\/Public Health Month.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because in February 2025, the Trump\/Musk Administration paid special attention to our nation\u2019s public health and to the civil servants who work to study, understand, promote, and protect it. \u00a0There have been lots of attention-grabbing headlines and stories and certainly not in a good way.\u00a0 Hence the GASP replacing GREAT.<\/p>\n<p>Whereas Public Health Week is a &#8220;time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving our nation,&#8221; Make America Gasp Again\/Public Health Month seems to be a time to undermine public health efforts and decimate public health practitioners.<\/p>\n<p>What exactly is public health? \u00a0It\u2019s different from medicine and medical care which \u00a0addresses the health and treatment of individuals.\u00a0 Public health focuses on populations, as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire state, country, or region of the world.\u00a0 It works to promote and protect the health of all people and their communities. \u00a0The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is our national public health agency.\u00a0 But much of our country\u2019s public health efforts reside with the individual states. And those institutions have taken a heavy hit in recent years due to the fallout of COVID-related disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has been in the Administration\u2019s crosshairs. As you likely know, our nation\u2019s premier public health and science agencies are housed within <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/about\/agencies\/orgchart\/index.html\">DHHS<\/a>, including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and more. On February 13, the Senate confirmed the nomination of vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.\u00a0 to head the Department \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7222309\/rfk-jr-confirmed-hhs-public-health-react\/\">alarming, actually terrifying \u2013 public health experts. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>But let\u2019s move on from there to other news that makes one gasp.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>MAGA\/PH Month News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In just a few short weeks, over 5,000 DHHS employees were terminated (see <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-job-cuts-health-cdc-0d002fd6f528a7b91ced79628bf68196\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2025\/02\/18\/trump-health-firings-fda-cdc\/\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-job-cuts-health-cdc-0d002fd6f528a7b91ced79628bf68196\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/shots-health-news\/2025\/02\/17\/nx-s1-5300052\/federal-employees-layoffs-cdc-nih-fda\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-job-cuts-health-cdc-0d002fd6f528a7b91ced79628bf68196https:\/d.docs.live.net\/16129a77a4a30b8b\/AOEC\">here<\/a>).\u00a0 The list of terminations \u00a0includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>CDC:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/cdc-set-to-lose-one-tenth-of-workforce-under-trump-administration-probationary-job-cuts\">Nearly 1,300 probationary workers<\/a> or nearly 10% of its workforce. [<a href=\"https:\/\/scilight.substack.com\/p\/probationary-employees-fired-en-masse\">Note<\/a> \u2013 in this context, probationary refers to those hired within the past year; nothing to do with their job performance.]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><u>Short detour<\/u>: \u00a0There was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/cdc-disease-detectives-doge-cuts-health-agencies\/\">quite an uproar<\/a> when news spread that CDC\u2019s disease detective group (the EIS&#8211; Epidemic Intelligence Service) would be part of the termination effort.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2025\/02\/18\/cdc-cuts-epidemic-intelligence-service-former-eis-officer-explains-impact-devastating-blow\/\">Directly quoting Stat First Opinion<\/a>: \u201c<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">The EIS has been a cornerstone of the CDC\u2019s ability to investigate and control disease outbreaks. Founded in 1951 in response to concerns about biological warfare, EIS has since trained thousands of epidemiologists who have played critical roles in addressing some of the most significant public health threats of our time. From the eradication of smallpox to the response to Ebola, Covid-19, and countless other outbreaks, EIS officers have been on the front lines, often putting their own safety at risk to protect the public.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The hostility to EIS is understandable for Trump. It was EIS officers who first investigated mass COVID outbreaks in meatpacking plants in 2000.\u00a0 Trump and his agriculture department were not too happy about that report and softened its initial recommendations in a final <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2022\/may\/12\/meatpacking-industry-trump-downplay-covid-threat\">\u00a0<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The backlash to elimination of EIS was fierce. <a href=\"\/\/apic.org\/news\/apic-calls-for-reinstatement-of-cdcs-epidemic-intelligence-service-eis-employees-recently-laid-off\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)<\/a> \u00a0(APIC) quickly called for the reinstatement of the EIS officers, and the Administration backed down. In response to backlash about the planned firings, Musk posted on X on Monday that EIS is \u201cnot canceled\u201d and that those suggesting otherwise should \u201cstop saying bullshit.\u201d\u00a0(read about the retreat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2025\/02\/epidemic-intelligence-service-doge-layoffs\/681771\/\">here<\/a>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NIH<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/trump-administration-lays-off-fda-employees-stat-news-reports-2025-02-16\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Approximately 1,165 employees<\/a>, \u00a0representing around 6% of its workforce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>FDA<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/us\/trump-administration-s-cuts-to-fda-employees-raises-concerns\/ar-AA1zaitr?ocid=BingNewsVerp\">The exact number of cuts are unclear<\/a>, they were primarily in divisions dealing with food safety, medical devices, and tobacco products<\/li>\n<li><strong>USDA<\/strong>: The Agriculture Department also has public health responsibilities especially when it comes to food safety and avian influenza. Last week, USDA \u201caccidentally<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/doge\/usda-accidentally-fired-officials-bird-flu-rehire-rcna192716\">\u201d fired several agency employees<\/a> who were working on the federal government&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/white-house\/trumps-drive-reshape-government-threaten-bird-flu-response-rcna192133\">response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak<\/a>. Realizing their mistake, USDA officials scrambled to rehire them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>These layoffs are allegedly part of a broader strategy by the administration to reduce federal government spending, staffing, and budgets, and thus enhance efficiency \u2013 no matter what the cost.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These layoffs are allegedly part of a broader strategy by the administration to reduce federal government spending, staffing, and budgets, and thus enhance efficiency \u2013 no matter what the cost.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m all for efficiency, really, I am.\u00a0 But I\u2019m totally unconvinced that arbitrary mass firings and purges are a smart way to do it.\u00a0 Aside from being just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/02\/19\/politics\/federal-workers-callous-firing\/index.html\">plain cruel in implementation<\/a>, slashing our federal public health infrastructure seriously erodes our nation\u2019s ability to respond to health threats and provide information, resources, and services that help keep us healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Especially in an age of new outbreaks or emerging infectious diseases \u2013 such as avian influenza &#8212; eliminating these disease detectives, public health experts, and other safeguards could be catastrophic.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What This Mean for Public Health<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Well, it doesn\u2019t take a crystal ball to envision some of the likely impacts these dramatic cuts in the nation\u2019s public health infrastructure will have. They include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Disrupting government services, like processing Social Security &amp; Medicare payments and benefits<\/li>\n<li>Limiting the ability of the CDC and the FDA to respond to health crises, process drug approvals, approve medical devices, or manage disease outbreaks<\/li>\n<li>Limiting EPA, FEMA, and OSHA\u2019s ability to respond to emergencies and provide disaster assistance, e.g., for workplace fatalities, chemical accidents, and oils spills<\/li>\n<li>Limiting OSHA\u2019s ability to understand and regulate workplace and health safety hazards<\/li>\n<li>Impacting the timely provision of services to veterans, children, needy families<\/li>\n<li>Preparing for the next pandemic<\/li>\n<li>Forecasting the weather<\/li>\n<li>Monitoring and regulating air, food, and water quality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And this is not a comprehensive list.\u00a0 You can add your concerns in the comments.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Bottom Line\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I suppose some will applaud these cuts, while many of us gasp at their magnitude. Both the short and the long-term consequences are significant. Not least of which is the loss of institutional knowledge, experience, and expertise in dealing with public health issues, and ultimately a loss of public confidence in government. Maybe even in this administration.\u00a0 Time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking News! It\u2019s official: The official Public Health Week may be in April, but Elon Musk has declared the month of February to henceforth be known as MAGA\/PH &#8212; &#8220;Make America Gasp Again\/Public Health Month.&#8221; That\u2019s because in February 2025, the Trump\/Musk Administration paid special attention to our nation\u2019s public health and to the civil [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[180,303,256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-centers-for-disease-control","category-doge","category-infectious-diseases"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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