When Milwaukee’s public schools faced a lead contamination crisis, a former CDC scientist stepped forward to help. Laid off just weeks earlier in a wave of federal job cuts, he offered his expertise as a volunteer. “While I regret that I’m no longer able to assist in my former government role, my commitment to this public health crisis remains steadfast,” he wrote to the city’s health commissioner.
But his offer wasn’t easy to accept. The Trump administration’s mass layoffs in April had placed CDC lead poisoning prevention experts on paid administrative leave, barring them from working—even as volunteers. Commissioner Michael Totoraitis acknowledged the dilemma: “We don’t want to jeopardize their current situation.”
The layoffs dismantled the CDC’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which had been helping Milwaukee identify which of its 68,000 public school students were most at risk from lead exposure. Now, that work is stalled. Some former CDC employees are too busy job-hunting or too fearful of losing severance to volunteer. Others worry that helping might signal their work isn’t truly essential.
“There’s this sense like, we can’t keep doing the work that is being cut, because then there’s no sign that the work has been cut,” said one former employee. As Milwaukee scrambles for resources, the city’s most vulnerable children remain at risk—caught in the crossfire of politics and public health.
See: “Laid off CDC scientist hit snag in helping with Milwaukee lead crisis” (May 12, 2025)