Because of the federal government shutdown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) furloughed staff amid one of the most severe flu seasons in recent memory, according to an article on the STAT website.
The Health and Human Services Department furloughed about 41,000 of its 82,000 workers, according to a fiscal year 2017 contingency plan.
The situation hit agencies differently — about 55 percent of FDA staff, for example, kept working, while only about 10 percent of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration workforce stayed on board per the shutdown plan, the article said.
At the CDC and National Institutes of Health, 39 percent and 23 percent of each agency’s employees remained in place.
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