Brewing at the CDC: Five top resignations and ‘potentially catastrophic’ cuts

“CDC is in a state of chaos,” said Sonya Arundar, a former CDC employee who was cut in February along with hundreds of others. “The managers don’t know who’s not available, who’s been laid off. They are having a hard time making plans. They can’t assign projects if they don’t know if people are going to be here next week or next month.”

“I have friends who say that just to send one email that used to take them five minutes, now they have to send it to up to three or four manager levels high and it takes hours,” she said. “It’s really difficult to work if you don’t know where your co-workers are.”

On Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, news outlets reported five top managers had resigned. Among them: the head of the center that coordinates CDC funding, strategy and technical assistance to state and local health departments; and the head of the group that publishes CDC’s weekly science report. The stories gave no reason.

Layoff rumors come and go at the CDC under the Trump administration. This one is being framed as “Reduction In Force.” That’s a type of firing that could be more durable than the earlier attempts at buyouts and laying off probationary employees, which have run into legal challenges.

A report Friday by CBS News said that up to 30% of CDC staff could be cut.

Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, heard about it Tuesday from inside the CDC.

“What is being floated is potentially catastrophic in terms of numbers,” Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She has worked with scores of CDC employees over her career and interacted with hundreds.

Credit: Morayo Ogunbayo

Credit: Morayo Ogunbayo

Similar to the earlier firings, this one too appears to be taking shape without much consultation with people in the departments to see what they do and cut surgically, Nuzzo and others said.

Nuzzo said she did not know why the top managers resigned, but said there is one piece of good news: Monarez is a scientist and longtime leader in federal scientific agencies outside the CDC.

Monarez was Trump’s second choice to run the CDC. He gave up on his first choice for director, former Congressman Dr. David Weldon, who has a history of touting unproven links between autism and vaccines, and reportedly would have had a difficult time being confirmed by the Senate.

“Susan is great,” Nuzzo said. “She is battle tested. She has done her time as a civil servant. She is really … smart, thoughtful, but also pragmatic.”

“It’s always a tough job,” Nuzzo said. “I guess the question is: will they let her do what needs to be done, and let her be guided by evidence?”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a Cabinet meeting Monday that he has found “extraordinary waste” in his department, which includes the CDC.

Two CDC employees, one current and one attempting to be rehired, spoke to the AJC but asked that their names not be used for fear of retaliation. Both said they are unimpressed with Monarez’s nomination. They noted that she has been the acting director of the CDC since January, all the time the White House has been cutting hundreds of staff.

Monarez has not communicated with employees much, either, they said.

“She has told people, I’ve been so impressed with the work you’ve been doing,” said the current employee. “But it doesn’t seem like she’s stepping up to defend any of the work.”

Nuzzo cautioned against snap judgments.

“I also think that there’s a big difference between someone who is actually director and someone who is acting director,” she said.