Trump cuts mean $500K suspended for preventing infectious diseases in Tri-Cities

The Benton Franklin Health District will be reducing its plans for preventing communicable diseases after learning that expected grants of about $500,000 from the federal government in COVID-related money has been suspended.

District leaders notified Benton and Franklin county commissioners and staff of the change last week, just before a U.S. District Court issued a temporary restraining order to restore $11 billion in public health funding nationwide to state and local health agencies.

The federal funding was appropriated by Congress to ensure the United States is better prepared for public health threats, according to the Washington Attorney General’s Office.

Health district officials have not determined yet if the court ruling could affect the federal money for the Tri-Cities area that is no longer coming. The district has an annual budget of about $17 million.

The message to staff from District Administrator Janae Parent said that over the next 90 days, health district officials will have a clearer understanding of the full impacts of possible additional federal and state budget cuts.

“This may involve adjustments to certain programs and operations, including a review of future travel and training requests, furniture and supply requests, overtime requests and potentially freezing some open positions,” the message said. “ Please be assured that these decisions are being made with careful consideration.”

Here’s how the district planned to spend the $500,000 that has been suspended:

▪ It would have helped with investigations of possible outbreaks of communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, measles and COVID-19. While the district is still required to do those investigations, there could be delays.

▪ The district will no longer have free COVID-19 test kits to distribute, including to stock a vending machine outside its office at 7102 W. Okanogan Place in Kennewick.

▪ It will impact its program to reach out to child care centers, particularly those in private homes, to work with staff on ways to reduce respiratory illnesses and to provide them air purifier filters.

▪ It will suspend most work with juvenile detention centers and other community housing facilities on infection prevention, including how to reduce risk and information on techniques to isolate ill residents to prevent the spread of infections.

▪ It will limit outreach to unhoused people, including the distribution of wound care kits and other infection prevention work.

▪ Due to the loss of courier service, it will no longer be able to partner with coroner offices and others to send samples from deceased people to laboratories to test for COVID-19. The information is used on death certificates and for compiling data on infectious disease deaths.

Hiring for some of the work had not been done, but a couple of layoffs are expected if workers cannot be moved to open positions.

“Our focus remains on protecting our core services, supporting our workforce, caring for our community and navigating this transition with integrity and care,” Parent said in the message to staff.

The lawsuit that won a temporary restraining order to restore $11 billion in public health funding to state and local public health agencies was filed by 23 state, including Washington.

The federal funding was appropriated by Congress to ensure the United States is better prepared for public health threats, according to the office of Washington Attorney General Nick Brown.

This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 12:33 PM.