The Trump administration has fired nearly a quarter of the employees in a crucial program office that tracks and monitors the growing bird flu outbreak. The move comes as the US is struggling with a rapidly spreading virus that poses an increasing risk to humans.
The office, which coordinates laboratories testing for animal-borne diseases, was left severely understaffed after the firings. “They’re already underwater and they are constantly short-staffed,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, calling it the “front line of surveillance” for the outbreak.
Bird flu has infected nearly 70 people in the US and is spreading rapidly through poultry flocks, leading to mass killings of birds. The virus has also been detected in raw milk, a product promoted by Trump’s newly confirmed secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who drinks it himself.
Experts say there is no need to kill chickens within range of an infected bird because they don’t really fly. However, scientists warn that the spread is happening mostly through ducks and geese. The Biden administration had taken a different approach, killing chickens in close proximity to infected birds.
As the virus spreads, the US is facing egg shortages and skyrocketing prices. The Trump administration has also cut public health research spending and frozen communications about outbreaks from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The firings are part of an administration plan to shrink the federal workforce by laying off vast numbers of under probationary employees. This move comes as President Trump’s economic advisor, Kevin Hassett, suggested that better bio-security measures and medication could prevent the spread of bird flu without killing chickens.
Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-firings-bird-flu-surveillance-1235269620