Fired CDC workers vow to fight against cuts as they find a tight job market outside the agency

Supporters of the Centers for Disorder Control and Prevention demonstrate outside the center s entrance in Atlanta during a rally in April Jill Nolin Georgia RecorderShelby Hutton was a biologist studying sexually transmitted diseases at the Centers for Ailment Control and Prevention who was planning to expand her gonorrhea research by starting doctoral studies in the fall But in early April Hutton discovered herself suddenly unemployed and applying for a job at Starbucks As a scientist Hutton stated she had not expected to find herself among the legions of federal workers abruptly fired as part of the Trump administration s plan to shrink the federal executive through mass firings U S Vitality Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr reported plans to slash job in late March including jobs at the CDC Hundreds of good scientists and subject matter experts were among the cuts to federal employees Hutton commented while standing outside the CDC in Atlanta This is the exact opposite of what RFK reported would happen I ll be the first to say that there is a lot of improvement to be had in terms of ruling body efficiency but I really can t picture a functional CDC without laboratorians Shelby Hutton who is a scientist poses for a photo outside the Centers for Ailment Control and Prevention just days after she was swept up in the Trump administration s sweeping reduction in force Jill Nolin Georgia RecorderHutton stated she was in the middle of validating tests her organization had developed for the molecular surveillance of gonorrhea that is resistant to antibiotics work she mentioned she doesn t know of other labs doing when she received the email dismissing her and her entire laboratory branch They didn t have time to properly store specimens that Hutton described as priceless To Hutton it feels like the deep cuts at the CDC are part of a backlash to the COVID- pandemic and lingering anger among specific over shutdowns and other safety measures taken to control the spread of the virus It absolutely feels like we re the scapegoats It feels like we re being attacked Hutton mentioned And I don t think people realize how crucial the work that we do is and how much we care about the work we do in inhabitants fitness The Office of Personnel Management and the CDC did not respond to questions about the actual number of dismissals since February Tuesday marked Trump s th day in office but the president has already seen his approval rating suffer in Georgia a state he won last year after narrowly losing here in Trump s approval rating among Georgia voters is at according to a poll distributed Wednesday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and conducted by the University of Georgia School of Inhabitants and International Affairs