Thousands of Workers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Are Losing Their Jobs
Source：CNN
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Chicago
Update Time：2022/12/09
In the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, workers are checking in people to be tested for covid-19 in 2020
To battle covid-19, around 4,000 highly skilled epidemiologists, communication specialists, and public health nurses were hired by a nonprofit tied to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) to help assist overrun public health departments on the front lines. The CDC Foundation, an independent nonprofit that supports the CDC originally received $289 million in covid relief funding and has now spent almost all of it. The aftereffect is that the CDC Foundation’s contracts for these public health workers have ended. The CDC Foundation predicts that only 800 of the 4,000 initially hired will have their contracts renewed and continue to work in those jurisdictions. This means that many local and state health departments are understaffed in the face of increasing covid cases and continuation of monkeypox, increase in sexually transmitted infections, etc.
The public health workforce in the USA has been underfunded for many generations. Before the pandemic, the 2020 Associated Press-KHN investigation discovered that only 28% of local health departments had an epidemiologist or statistician. After the pandemic began, many public health officials quit due to criticism, being blamed for the economic downturn and dealing with burnout. New research from the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice says that at least 80,000 new employees are required for the state and local public health departments to administer the minimum package of public health services. Public health experts warn that this is another example of the failure to adequately fund the public health sector with guaranteed money annually, which in turn leaves the country incapable of preventing or fighting outbreaks. In Chicago, CDC Foundation employees made up 10% of its public health workforce said Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s public health department commissioner.
In November, there will be $3 billion in covid relief money given to help the public health workforce. However, the money is too late to renew most of the contracts that have expired under the CDC Foundation. Another problem with the money is that it is short-term and will only last five years, which doesn’t provide job stability. Also, the money is divided among the 50 states, US territories, and many large health departments. Furthermore, some state and local officials for example, in Missouri and Michigan have refused the opportunity to spend covid relief money on public health departments. Epidemiologist Susan Knoll says, “You certainly don’t go into public health to get rich. You get a grant-funded job and then you’re always looking for another job. ” Chicago’s Awady says, “We’re not going to be able to do half a dozen things that the city of Chicago clearly expects we should be able to do. Forest ‘Can I bring the vaccine to your house?’ It’s ‘Can I even stand up, like a vaccine clinic in your neighborhood?”. She predicts that Chicago will lose 86% of its current grant funding in two years. This will impact wastewater tracking, some of the IT staff, and community-based outreach.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/health/public-health-jobs-khn-partner/index.html