Latest news with #COVID-19HealthDisparitiesGrant
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
San Diego County loses $40M in funds just before new public health lab opens
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego County will not receive $40 million of public health funding promised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), County Supervisor and acting Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer announced Thursday in a news release. According to the release, the county was notified just last week that the CDC would pull back on multiple funding streams that were previously awarded through fiscal year 2025-2026. The impacted streams fall under the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) program, the Immunization and Vaccines for Children program, and the COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant. Local research on HIV, suicide prevention impacted by NIH grant cuts Lawson-Remer said the county was awarded $174 million, but recently learned that $40 million will no longer be available 'due to the CDC's abrupt 30-day closeout period.' The announcement comes just weeks before the county was preparing to debut its new Public Health Lab in May. The project was first announced years ago, and is slated to open in Kearny Mesa. The $93 million, 52,000-square-foot project was designed to expand the county's response to transmissible diseases and reduce the need for out-of-county corporate labs. It was funded, in part, by local dollars. However, the county supervisor said the lab needs federal support to ensure the facility will be able to provide services as planned. 'We built the lab. We planned responsibly. We kept our end of the deal. Now the federal government is walking away from theirs — and San Diego families are the ones paying the price,' said Lawson-Remer. 'This isn't just bad policy — it's sabotage disguised as efficiency, and it leaves San Diego taxpayers holding the bill.' The grants were meant to support $17 million in capital costs as well as lab equipment. Over 90 public health positions have been impacted by the cuts, according to the release. A few of the programs now at risk due to the lack of funding, according to Lawson-Remer, are a mobile testing unit for community outbreaks, in-shelter flu and hepatitis vaccinations, public health data system and staffing for epidemiologists and health investigators. The loss of grant funding underscores the local need for public health services. The county announced a large hepatitis A outbreak in March 2017, with some cases traced back to November 2016. Due to the scale of the outbreak, the county declared a local health emergency on Sept. 1, 2017. Before it officially was declared over on Jan. 23, 2018, the outbreak resulted in nearly 600 cases and 20 deaths. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal health program cuts could impact virus outbreak response in NYC
NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York's response to virus outbreaks could look different after the federal government cut funding to the state's Department of Health, according to Governor Kathy Hochul. New York's health department is expected to lose more than $300 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hochul announced on Friday. More Local News The governor warned that the cuts could impact programs that handle public health functioning, addiction treatment and prevention services, as well as state-run mental health services. Federal funding helped support public health responses to viruses through surveillance, outbreak response, electronic data exchange, and maintaining public dashboards. Funding also helped support infection prevention programs in hospitals and nursing homes as well as laboratory reporting. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State Losing help from the federal government will also likely shutter the COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant, which contributed to funding 135 subcontractors who addressed disparities in mental health, maternal and infant health, and food security. 'Here's the sad truth: there is no State in the nation that has the resources to backfill these sweeping cuts. It's up to New York's elected officials who serve in the House majority to stand up and fight back,' said Hochul. The move by the federal government comes as measles cases are jumping nationwide and infectious disease experts are working to identify possible measles exposure from an Amtrack passenger. Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
