The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told health officials in Wisconsin it could not help with an ongoing lead exposure investigation because the Trump administration had eliminated its response team.
In an email obtained by the Scripps News Group in Milwaukee, a director with the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health appears to be responding to city health officials' request for an Epi-Aid — which is an investigation of an urgent public health problem. An Epi-Aid is an investigation of an urgent public health problem.
"I sincerely regret to inform you that due to the complete loss of our Lead Program, we will be unable to support you with this EpiAid request," Aaron Bernstein wrote in an email.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department, under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., laid off around 10,000 employees at the beginning of April across multiple agencies, including the CDC.
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According to the email, the request was sent on March 26 and asked for the deployment of a response team for the end of April.
Three of Milwaukee's schools — Starms Early Childhood Center, Fernwood Montessori School and LaFollette School — have been closed since March 17 because of lead contamination issues. Students have been attending classes elsewhere in the meantime.
The Milwaukee Public School District held a virtual town hall meeting last Thursday to address concerns from parents at the affected schools, who have grown increasingly frustrated with what they describe as a lack of communication and a clear timeline for when their children's schools will reopen.
According to Milwaukee Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, the district has spent nearly $1.8 million on remediation and abatement efforts. However, parents say the lack of a definitive timeline for when the schools will reopen is unacceptable.
District leaders said they are close to the end of the painting at Fernwood and that the process has taken longer than expected. More testing will be done once the work is completed before kids can return.
The district has stated it is working with the Milwaukee Health Department to finalize a lead action plan.
Watch: MPS parents call for transparency, timeline on reopening lead-affected schools
The Milwaukee Public School District has not yet provided a timeline for when the affected schools will reopen. Officials say more information will be shared once the lead action plan is finalized and released to the public. They plan to have more town halls in the future.
