We take for granted the various safety measures and health protections the collective intelligence of humans has come up with over the years, so we take an axe to those measures to “save money.”

At least, some of us do, and unfortunately the some of us who do are busy with those axes.

Over a thousand (1300) probationary workers at the Center for Disease Control are being let go by the Trump administration, representing about 45% of all probationary workers at the CDC.

Being fired. I dislike that “being let go” euphemism, especially in cases like this where the firings are wholly arbitrary and reckless. There’s no room for euphemisms here.

Among those laid off include all 50 first-year officers of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, and perhaps some second-year officers. The EIS, established in 1951, recruits some of the brightest public health leaders into a two-year program to train healthcare professionals to identify and respond to disease outbreaks.

And that’s a good thing. We need healthcare professionals who can identify and respond to disease outbreaks. Does Idiot Musk really want more disease outbreaks? Probably not; probably he’s just too reckless and power-drunk to pay attention to the details.

EIS officers have historically identified and controlled important health threats like COVID-19 and Zika. Their expertise allows for rapid response to emerging infectious diseases, which ultimately prevents widespread transmission. Firing frontline workers will have devastating consequences for public and global health, and will hinder the CDC’s ability to respond to outbreaks in a timely fashion.

In other words EIS officers make things not happen, and because the things don’t happen, we don’t realize the EIS officers stopped them, so we feel very clever when we fire them all to save $$$.

This comes at a time where there is no shortage of public health threats. Currently, the flu is surging in America, with up to 23 million hospital visits for the flu and at least 370,000 hospitalizations, according to the CDC. In addition, the bird flu is spreading uncontrollably in animals and has killed one man in Louisiana. An Ebola outbreak has also been reported in Africa. America and the world are in desperate need of qualified public health practitioners who can manage all of these public health threats.

Naaaah. Just drink an extra glass of orange juice and you’ll be fine.