As covid-19 raged, roughly 4,000 highly skilled epidemiologists, communication specialists, and public health nurses were hired by a nonprofit tied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plug the holes at battered public health departments on the front lines.
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, an independent nonprofit tied to the CDC hired an army of seasoned professionals to fill the gaps in the country’s public health system. Now, the money has largely run out.
Thousands of specialists hired to staff up health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic are now being laid off as the virus fades from American consciousness.
Experts say the response to the monkeypox virus in rural America may be affected by the patchy resources and bitter politics that are a legacy of the pandemic, challenges that some worry could allow sporadic infections to gain a foothold.