Delays In CDC Grants to Health Departments Spark ‘Chaos’ 

Federal grants to state and local health programs have been delayed or blocked, in part due to external reviews by DOGE, reports The Hill. Among them is Alabama’s Department of Public Health, whose chief Scott Harris says that the uncertainty is causing “chaos” for health departments.  

In addition, per The Hill:

Raynard Washington, director of the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department in North Carolina, said his agency laid off six workers — including half its disease investigators — after grants for HIV prevention and surveillance programs expired at the end of May with no information about future funding.  

The grants were eventually restored about a month later, but to date the department has only been able to bring back half of the people it laid off.  

“So now we’re behind, and cases are still being reported every day that have to be investigated,” Washington said. “The more time that people may have been exposed to HIV and don’t know it, or syphilis and don’t know it and are getting tested and treated, those delays actually translate to potential illness.”