Members of the Morgan County Health Department say they are carrying on as normal in the face of cuts of millions of dollars to state health departments’ funding by the federal government.
Reuters reports the U.S. Department of Public Health and Human Services canceled around $12 billion in federal grants to states that were allocated during the pandemic. The grants were being used to track, prevent, and control infectious diseases.
The Trump Administration had previously ended more than $11 billion in funding awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and roughly $1 billion by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The Illinois Department of Public Health and 97 local public health departments say that $125 million in funding has been pulled from the state so far, causing cuts to various state and local programs.
Morgan County Health Department Office Manager Meredith Vogel-Thomas says that Morgan County residents should rest assured that several programs they are used to are continuing without disruption: “I’m really happy to report that it is business as usual at the Morgan County Health Department. In the news, there has been a lot of chatter about the state of public health in the world and in the country. For us, frankly, we have just carried on as normal. All of our programs are functioning just like we hoped they would. We haven’t seen a downturn, necessarily, in interest in services. I would actually say that we’ve seen an increase recently. We’re fortunate that we have a really skilled staff that is very happy to talk with folks that have questions about measles, vaccinations, or any healthcare.”
The health department has not said whether the cuts would affect any of their communicable disease surveillance programs or mental health treatment programs in the near term.