Laboratories in a national network of 58 facilities responding to the spread of bird flu were notified Friday that 25 percent of the staff in a central program office coordinating their work was fired in the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal employees.
USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network program office has a staff of only 14 people, but it plays a major role in responding to animal disease outbreaks. It’s responsible for data management, ensuring that labs across the country are conducting the same tests and following similar protocols to accurately and effectively track animal diseases.
The labs that make up the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians were informed that testing and other responses to the H5N1 outbreak would be slower after the layoff, said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
“They’re the front line of surveillance for the entire outbreak,” Poulsen said. “They’re already underwater and they are constantly short-staffed, so if you take all the probationary staff out, you’ll take out the capacity to do the work.”
