CDC firings undermine public health work far beyond Washington

Minneapolis, MN (MinnPost)

Local and state officials said CDC departures threaten to undermine the nation's constant effort to identify and control infectious disease outbreaks.

The Trump administration's sudden firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees gutted training programs across the nation whose participants bolstered the workforce of state and local public health departments that for decades have been starved of resources.

The programs are designed to cultivate a new generation of public health leaders, many of whom have gone on to work at the CDC. That was far from its only purpose. Local and state officials said the departures threaten to undermine the nation's constant effort to identify and control infectious disease outbreaks.

The terminated CDC employe