CLEVELAND — On Tuesday, 23 states sued the Trump administration after the CDC cut $11.4 billion in COVID-19 funds that had been allocated to state and local health departments. However, Ohio is not part of the lawsuit and local health departments are re-evaluating their budgets and adjusting for the funding loss.
Health departments play a vital role in communities, handling everything from restaurant and grocery store inspections to air quality checks and vaccinations. But a surprise message last week left health officials—including those in Cleveland—concerned about the future.
“March 24, we received an email that a number of grants across local health departments across Ohio were ending on March 24,” said David Margolius, director of public health for the City of Cleveland. “It's just putting everybody in a tough position to not know if they're going to get a letter any given day that cuts their salary and it puts them out of work.”
The $11.4 billion in funding was distributed differently across health departments, depending on the grants they received. For Cleveland, the cuts amounted to only tens of thousands of dollars.
“We just had to call radio and billboards to say, 'all right, stop.' You know, we were promoting those vaccines,” said Margolius.
In Lorain County, the cuts totaled around $200,000 per year.
“We wanted to use that, and we wanted to expand our epidemiology services,” said Mark Adams, the health commissioner of Lorain County Public Health.
Fortunately, Lorain County had already planned ahead, setting aside funds to retain staff, so the impact was minimal.
“That grant helped us offset our general fund dollars to be able to help build up finances,” said Adams.
But Tuscarawas County wasn't so lucky. They were awarded $1.3 million, intended to last through the end of this year. When the funding was abruptly cut, they still had $720,000 allocated for infection prevention, education projects, and clinic repairs.
“We are utilizing the money for the new HVAC system, we are currently experiencing zero air exchange, which means that as it relates to infection control and prevention and spread of respiratory illnesses when we are seeing, diagnosing and treating patients. We, unfortunately don't have those proper protections in place for our staff and for the community,” said Katie Steward, the Health Commissioner for Tuscarawas County combined general health district.
Now, critical projects and contracts may be canceled unless they can pull the funds from other areas.
“When you start taking those pieces away, the effects, especially in rural communities such as Tuscarawas County, are going to be incredibly impactful,” said Steward.
While each health department has been affected differently, officials worry about what the future holds. They stress that they are doing everything they can despite the challenges.
“I do think, though, that there is this narrative that city governments have let folks down. But what's happening now is the white house is making decisions that are basically undercutting or chopping the legs off of city government,” said Margolius.
