Trump moves hamper bird flu response as egg prices spike

The Trump administration’s efforts to impose its will on the federal workforce through mass firings, funding freezes and communication blackouts is hampering the ability of public health professionals to respond to the growing threat of avian flu.

When President Trump took office, his administration instituted an external communications blackout across health agencies. State and local health departments are only just beginning to hear from officials at the CDC, nearly a month after the inauguration.

A person familiar with the situation said the administration is still slow-walking critical updates, and any communication that does occur isn’t happening in a timely enough fashion.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that it accidentally fired “several” agency employees over the weekend who are involved in the federal avian flu response, and the agency said it was now trying to quickly reverse the firings.

Local public health departments are continuing their work to identify instances of viral spread, but it’s made more difficult without timely updates from CDC about the national picture. The Trump administration has also stopped reporting flu data to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, a federal funding freeze has left virus researchers in a state of confusion, wondering whether their work will continue.

Infectious disease experts are also concerned that public health labs, which rely on federal funding, won’t be able handle any increase in testing capacity if the widespread freeze continues. They have called for greatly expanded testing to better understand the virus.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said his top focus will be on chronic diseases, not infectious diseases. When asked specifically about avian flu during his confirmation hearing, Kennedy spoke broadly, saying he “intends to devote the appropriate resources to preventing pandemics.”