Media Outlets Examine How U.S. Government Shutdown Affecting Health, Science Agencies

The government shutdown “doesn’t mean that the entire government closes,” Science reports, adding, “It was largely business as usual at agencies deemed essential for public safety and national security, for instance, including the departments of Justice and Homeland Security … [b]ut research agencies were hit hard.” For example, “At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 73 percent of its more than 18,600 employees were ordered to stay home,” the magazine writes, profiling several workers who are deemed essential staff (Kaiser et al., 10/4). NPR’s “The Salt” blog and “All Things Considered” examine how the shutdown is affecting the CDC’s food safety division (Aubrey, 10/3). NPR’s “The Two-Way” blog examines how the shutdown is affecting different science and health agencies, including NIH, CDC, and FDA, among others (10/1).

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