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'Dark day for public health': CT set to lose $150M in COVID funding under latest Trump cutbacks

Two days after Federal health officials said they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-related funds, Dr. Manisha Juthani said during a press conference at UConn Health, “This is a dark day for public health. COVID-19 may have been the catalyst for these grants but, as Congress intended, these funds were being used to modernize our systems, strengthen our workforce, educate the public, protect our children all to prevent or mitigate the damage to human lives caused by future disease outbreaks.”
Mark Mirko
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Two days after federal health officials said they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-related funds, Dr. Manisha Juthani said during a press conference at UConn Health, “This is a dark day for public health. COVID-19 may have been the catalyst for these grants but, as Congress intended, these funds were being used to modernize our systems, strengthen our workforce, educate the public, protect our children all to prevent or mitigate the damage to human lives caused by future disease outbreaks.”

ϳԹ health officials are still calculating the impact of the latest funding cuts from the Trump administration, as it moves to revoke billions of dollars in COVID-19 funding for health departments nationwide.

Federal health officials said Tuesday they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-related funds.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

In ϳԹ, the cuts are expected to terminate more than $150 million in grants allocated to the state for disease outbreak surveillance, newborn screenings and childhood immunizations, state officials said.

ϳԹ Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, decried the cuts Thursday. He said the reductions were “abrupt and unexpected” and would have “a devastating impact on our ability to fight disease, protect the health of newborns, provide mental health and addiction treatment services, and keep people safe.”

“I am urging the Trump administration to recognize that these cuts go beyond what is reasonable and reverse this rash and impulsive decision,” Lamont said.

ϳԹ Attorney General William Tong said in a statement he would challenge the Trump administration’s decision “to unilaterally rescind Congressionally-authorized funding to states.”

Funding cuts to have immediate impact

Dozens of ϳԹ projects funded by the grants were ordered to stop work on Wednesday. Nearly 50 contracts with local health departments for immunization services were also canceled, officials said.

The Infectious Disease Branch, part of the state Department of Public Health, was particularly hard hit — losing roughly $120 million, officials said. That money focused on an array of public health projects including disease surveillance in emergency departments and at nursing homes.

Staff and visitors to UConn Health listen to speakers during a press conference called in response to the Trump administration’s sudden termination of federal public health grants in ϳԹ.
Mark Mirko
/
ϳԹ
Staff and visitors to UConn Health listen to speakers during a press conference called in response to the Trump administration’s sudden termination of federal public health grants is expected to have on ϳԹ.

“This is a dark day for public health,” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, state public health commissioner. “COVID-19 may have been the catalyst for these grants but, as Congress intended, these funds were being used to modernize our systems, strengthen our workforce, educate the public, protect our children all to prevent or mitigate the damage to human lives caused by future disease outbreaks.”

Due to the cuts, health care providers will now be forced to fax reportable diseases to DPH, rather than transmitting them electronically, officials said. Lab tests for newborn screenings will be delayed and some mobile vaccination outreach efforts will stop.

The DPH says the federal cuts will also terminate funding for the “” program, which provides free home visits for newborns from nurses and is currently active in Bridgeport and Norwich.

'Cruel and unusual behavior'

Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County & City Health Officials, said much of the funding was set to end soon anyway. “It’s ending in the next six months,” she said. “There’s no reason — why rescind it now? It’s just cruel and unusual behavior.”

HHS wouldn't provide many details about how the federal government expects to recover the money from what it called “impacted recipients.” But HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email: “The $11.4 billion is undisbursed funds remaining.”

Freeman said her understanding is that state health departments already had the COVID money.

“The funding was authorized by Congress, was appropriated by Congress, and it was out the door, basically, into the hands of the grantees" — states, she said, which decide how to distribute it locally.

Some of the COVID money is used to address other public health issues, Freeman added. For example, wastewater surveillance that began during COVID became important for detecting other diseases, too.

“It was being used in significant ways to track flu and patterns of new disease and emerging diseases — and even more recently with the measles outbreak,” Freeman said.

Although the COVID federal public health emergency has ended, the virus is still killing Americans: 458 people per week on average have died from COVID over the past four weeks, according to CDC data.

ϳԹ’s Patrick Skahill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As ϳԹ's state government reporter, Michayla focuses on how policy decisions directly impact the state’s communities and livelihoods. She has been with ϳԹ since February 2022, and before that was a producer and host for audio news outlets around New York state. When not on deadline, Michayla is probably outside with her rescue dog, Elphie. Thoughts? Jokes? Tips? Email msavitt@ctpublic.org.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from ϳԹ, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de ϳԹ, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.


Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — ϳԹ.

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ϳԹ’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.