CDC staffers that investigate cruise ship outbreaks recently laid off, HHS says

Federal cruise ship health inspectors laid off

FOX 13's Ariel Placensia explains more about the CDC's cuts and how these cruise ships are going to move forward with future health inspections.

TAMPA - Staffers working as part of a CDC program that monitors and investigates cruise ship outbreaks were recently laid off, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HHS officials told FOX 13 on Tuesday that the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) is primarily staffed by U.S. Public Health Service commissioned officers.

What they're saying:

However, in a statement, HHS officials said "other staffers were let go as part of HHS’ transformation to streamline the Department." Critical CDC programs like VSP will continue under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s "vision to streamline HHS to better serve Americans," officials added.

They did not give an exact number of staffers who were laid off, nor did they clarify their exact roles on Tuesday.

Big picture view:

The goal of the VSP is to help the cruise industry prevent and control public health issues. Program responsibilities include conducting unannounced inspections, training ship staff on best health practices, and investigating outbreaks.

"If they dock in the U.S., the CDC inspectors can come on board. They can do an inspection for safety issues," USF College of Public Health associate professor Dr. Jill Roberts said. "But I would say more importantly, is they actually give education to the cruise industry on how to prevent outbreaks."

The VSP has already investigated 12 outbreaks this year, including several from norovirus.

"Norovirus is one of the worst. It just spreads incredibly easily," Roberts added.

Roberts told FOX 13 that she includes the VSP as part of her curriculum in her food safety course.

She teaches students about the changes that have been enacted because of these outbreak investigations.

"So, for example, we may have learned at one point that reusing cups on buffets was a really bad idea, because if somebody was sick, and they came back to the buffet with their cup, and they pressed it against that little thing that makes the soda come out, they could transfer a virus to those things."

Staffers working as part of a CDC program that monitors and investigates cruise ship outbreaks were recently laid off, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Work to inspect cruise ships and study outbreaks has not stopped, HHS officials said. However, there has been a reduction in the VSP force.

"That worries me in and of itself, because if we have, say, 10 investigators, and we have 100 ships, and now we only have five investigators, and we still have 100 ships, they either don't get investigated, because there just aren't enough people, or the person is really burned out," Roberts said. "They're going to leave the field, or they're just not going to do as good a job."

Last year, the VSP investigated 18 cruise ship outbreaks.

News of these cuts comes as AAA predicts a record 19 million Americans will go on ocean cruises this year.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia.

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