The Aftermath of the 2025 Shutdown: What Does It Mean for Public Health?
The 2025 government shutdown is over, but its impact on public health will not disappear overnight. Even though funding has resumed, the interruption disrupted critical functions, and rebuilding will require some work.
About 41 percent of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) workforce, or roughly 32,460 employees, were set to be furloughed during the shutdown [1,2]. In particular, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) planned to furlough around 64 percent of its staff, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about 75 percent, which is a severe reduction in capacity for guidance, research and outbreak detection [1]. This has strained workforce stability. The scale of furloughs at agencies like CDC and NIH undermines continuity and morale, and rebuilding trust and operations will likely take time.
In addition, another concerning effect was on disease surveillance. The CDC halted its usual publicly accessible dashboards and wastewater monitoring for respiratory viruses such as COVID-19, flu and RSV, which left many states without their standard early warning systems [3,4]. Without these data, state health departments may have difficulty tracking trends and responding quickly to rising infections [3].
Furthermore, the 2025 shutdown created significant uncertainty for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). October benefits were protected because funds had been transferred before the shutdown, but the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would not use its five-billion-dollar reserve to cover full November payments, raising fears that millions could face food insecurity [5,6,7]. Some food banks reported an 1800% surge in demand while families prepared for reduced support [6]. After the shutdown ended, the USDA pledged to restore full SNAP payments within twenty-four hours, although some states faced delays and backlogs in restarting normal benefit cycles [8]. These interruptions have public health consequences, since even short gaps in SNAP availability can increase household food insecurity, worsen nutrition quality and heighten stress for low-income families, potentially contributing to chronic disease risks in the months following the shutdown.
When compared to the 2018–2019 shutdown, the public health impacts feel both familiar and more pronounced. In that earlier shutdown, roughly 48 percent of HHS staff were furloughed, including 61 percent at CDC and 76 percent at NIH, according to analyses from public health authorities [9]. That disruption delayed reporting, inspections and basic services. The 2025 shutdown, by contrast, appears to have paused data systems during a key respiratory disease season, increasing the risks tied to slower responses [9].
Thus, building long‑term resilience will require policy and structural changes that protect essential public health functions from funding interruptions. Policymakers should consider reforms that formally designate core public health infrastructure as critical to national health security, ensuring that surveillance, laboratory capacity, and emergency response systems remain operational even during political or budgetary stalemates. In addition, agencies at all levels should establish contingency funding streams and legal mechanisms that guarantee continuity of operations, so that both federal and state programs can maintain services without interruption during future crises. As we move past the longest shutdown in U.S. history, we need to actively make contingency plans to prepare for any future interruptions.
References:
Pifer, R. (2025, September 30). HHS plans to furlough more than 40% of staff if government shuts down. Healthcare Dive. https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/hhs-furlough-plan-government-shutdown/761450/
Aboulenein, A. (2025, September 29). US government shutdown to furlough 41% of health agency workers. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-government-shutdown-furlough-41-health-agency-workers-2025-09-29/
Awan, O. (2025, November 9). How the government shutdown is impacting surveillance of COVID-19, flu and RSV. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/omerawan/2025/11/09/how-the-government-shutdown-is-impacting-surveillance-of-covid-19-flu-and-rsv/
Henderson, T. (2025, October 20). Shutdown leaves gaps in states’ health data, possibly endangering lives. Stateline. https://stateline.org/2025/10/20/shutdown-leaves-gaps-in-states-health-data-possibly-endangering-lives/
Kekatos, M. (2025, November 18). SNAP is back, but millions of Americans could lose benefits due to new restrictions. MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/snap-is-back-but-millions-of-americans-could-lose-benefits-due-to-new-restrictions/ar-AA1QEU2B?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Kekatos, M. (2025, November 13). Some food banks see up to 1,800% surge in demand since SNAP benefits were halted. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/food-banks-1800-surge-demand-snap-benefits-halted/story?id=127410295
Douglas, L. (2025, October 24). USDA memo says it will not use emergency funds for November food benefits. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/usda-memo-says-it-will-not-use-emergency-funds-november-food-benefits-2025-10-24/
Yarrow, G. (2025, November 12). Trump admin will pay full SNAP benefits ‘within 24 hours’ after shutdown ends. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/12/trump-admin-pay-snap-within-24-hours-shutdown-00649508
Jones, C. (2025, November 17). Government Shutdown Effects on Public Health: Lessons from the 2025 and 2018-2019 Closures. Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. ASTHO. https://www.astho.org/communications/blog/2025/government-shutdown-effects-on-public-health/
