Tag: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is ground zero in a battle over the size and scope of the federal government—and Atlanta is poised to feel the collateral damage.

The sun hadn’t yet come up when Charles’s phone started ringing on the morning of April 1. A colleague at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told him employees were receiving reduction in force (RIF) notices as they arrived to work at the Clifton Road campus. Charles found one waiting in his inbox, too. That morning, 2,400 CDC employees were given RIF notices with no explanation of which positions were being eliminated or why.

At first, the crowd that gathered Thursday afternoon across the street from the sprawling Clifton Road campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had the feel of a reunion. Retirees hugged former colleagues, fired workers returned, even some current employees melded in among them—although the announcement on a loud speaker warning “If you’re an employee and have your badge on, please take it off!” made it crystal clear that for all the conviviality, this event had more serious undertones.

Alicia Tucker suffers from alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a type of allergy that is passed to humans via a single, tiny vector: the Lone Star tick. In a 2023 press release, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that up to 450,000 Americans suffer from AGS, calling it “an important emerging public health problem.”