The reality of deep cuts to Health and Human Services hit home for many last week when half of the department's 10 regional offices closed, leaving 22 states and five territories without a local point of contact for heating assistance, child care programs, Meals on Wheels and more.
The U.S. public health system has long been under strain, stymied by declines in funding as well as employees. And so state and local public health departments around the nation — tasked with monitoring and responding to disease outbreaks that threaten to sicken the masses — have relied on workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help.
