The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has cancelled plans to support Texas schools in the ongoing fight against measles. Texas has been the epicenter of the large measles outbreak that has now sickened more than 700 kids in 4 states, and schools have been hard hit. The CDC has been visiting hospitals to identify serious problems with facilities that allowed the virus to spread more easily. For example, the team discovered ventilation issues in hospitals caring for measles patients. The CDC was set to expand this initiative to schools but the Administration implemented massive layoffs and reversed course.
This program has resulted in some positive changes in hospitals, and health officials were hoping to make a similar impact in schools. “Being on the ground allows us to actually look at the filters that are in place, look at the HVAC systems, how they’re set up, how they’re being used, how they’re being monitored. And after seeing what we did, I’m glad we did,” said Dylan Neu, a biomedical engineer at the CDC’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
“They might say in an interview, ‘Yeah, we purchased HEPA filters. They’ve been running in the waiting room.’ But if they’re not actually out of the plastic bag, they’re not doing what they think they’re doing”, Neu explained.
Neu added that the staffing cuts are compromising other vital work beyond measles response. His office was forced to stop conducting health hazard evaluations, in which experts help workplaces investigate cancer clusters or other outbreaks.
Critical laboratories at the CDC have also ceased operations due to layoffs. Experts warn this will seriously compromise our capacity to monitor and control dangerous infections such as hepatitis and treatment-resistant gonorrhea. Included in the layoffs were all 27 scientists at the country’s only lab that conducts advanced genetic testing vital to containing hepatitis outbreaks. This team was in the middle of an investigation into the ongoing multi-state outbreak when the firings took effect.
“In essence, we’re flying blind”, said Scott Becker, who leads the Association of Public Health Laboratories
