Bird flu response personnel caught in federal workforce cuts

(The Hill) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it was working to take back the termination notices sent over the weekend to several employees who aid in the federal response efforts to the bird flu (HPAI).

“Although several positions supporting HPAI were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters,” the USDA said in a statement to NewsNation.

“USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions, and we are continuing to hire the workforce necessary to ensure the safety and adequate supply of food to fulfill our statutory mission,” the statement continued.

Wendy Puryear, a virologist at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts, works in her lab. (David L. Ryan, The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The statement made clear that the agency “continues to prioritize the response” to the bird flu.

The agency noted that several jobs— including veterinarians, animal health technicians and other emergency health personnel — have been exempted from the “recent personnel actions to continue to support the HPAI response and other animal health priorities.”

The accidental firings come amid the Trump administration’s sweeping push to reduce the size of the government and cut the federal workforce.

Politico reported over the weekend that 25 percent of the staff was fired at USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network program office, which coordinates the work of 58 facilities responding to the spread of bird flu. Politico also reported that thousands of USDA employees have been notified they would lose their jobs.

The bird flu outbreak has affected dairy cow farms and poultry flocks, as egg prices have skyrocketed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still rates the current public health risk as “low” even as 68 human cases have been confirmed, including one death.