There’s a parasitic infection spreading across 34 states right now that causes explosive, weeks-long diarrhea. As of today, more than 7,000 Americans have it and at least 141 are in the hospital.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union serving federal workers, told us this was coming.
Workers warned that Elon Musk’s DOGE, hand-in-glove with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would hollow out the federal agencies that protect American family’s food, water, and medicine everyday.
Workers warned them on Capitol Hill. Workers warned them in the press. Workers warned them at rallies outside the CDC. And now the proof is in the pudding (so to speak) because it is in the lettuce.
Since RFK Jr. took over HHS, more than 17,400 of his own employees have been fired. That’s 4,300 from the FDA. Almost 2,900 from the CDC. Nearly 4,100 from the NIH. The small team at the CDC that sequences the DNA of parasites like Cyclospora to trace them back to the farm, the very team that could have stopped this outbreak weeks earlier, was cut from 11 scientists to only 3. The lead scientist resigned in September after warning his bosses the cuts would slow exactly this kind of response.
The CDC took a full month to warn doctors about this outbreak. Michigan warned its own residents two weeks before the feds did.
That’s not a glitch. That’s what happens when you fire a quarter of the CDC.
Federal workers spent their whole careers showing up and doing unglamorous, essential work ranging from testing water, inspecting food, sequencing parasites, and processing the claims that keep American families whole.
Nobody throws them a parade. They do it because it keeps people safe.
Then a billionaire who never passed a food-safety inspection in his life decided they were wasteful. A presidential appointee who has spent his career attacking the agencies he now runs signed the termination letters. And now 7,000 of us are sick, with cases climbing every week.
This isn’t a budget cut. It’s a body count.
And this is likely just the beginning. The federal workers we lost weren’t red tape, they were the last line of defense between your family and whatever microscopic horror comes next. They are the reason American butts don’t explode. Literally and figuratively.
RFK Jr. can reverse this but only if he feels the public pressure building with urgency.
He can reinstate the CDC and FDA workers he fired. He can stop the next explosive outbreak before it starts. But he won’t do it without being drowned in messages from people he can’t ignore.
Workers warned them. Workers were right. And workers are not done fighting.
In solidarity,
The Labor Force