Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress and threaten worse to come By Laura Ungar and Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press, Published: 1 day ago
A dentist cleans the teeth of a child in the public health department’s mobile dental clinic visiting Starmount Elementary school in Charlotte, N.C., on March 20, 2025. (AP Photo / Mary Conlon)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Americans are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy. Gone are specialists who were confronting a measles outbreak in Ohio, workers who drove a van to schools in North Carolina to offer vaccinations and a program that provided free tests to sick people in Tennessee.
State and local health departments responsible for invisible but critical work such as inspecting restaurants, monitoring wastewater for new and harmful germs, responding to outbreaks before they get too big — and a host of other tasks to protect both individuals and communities — are being hollowed out.
“Nobody wants to go swim in a community pool and come out of it with a rash or a disease from it. Nobody wants to walk out their door and take a fresh breath of air and start wheezing,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
