The Chicago Department of Public Health announced on Friday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has cut some of its COVID-related grants this week. This comes as the federal government cut $11.4 billion in COVID-related grants, which were partly used for testing, virus research, and community health jobs.

The money funded vaccination, epidemiology and laboratory work, community health workers, and efforts to address health disparities, a RIDOH spokesperson said.

State and local public health departments are bracing themselves as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulls back about $11.4 billion in grants that were allocated to state and community health departments during the Covid-19 pandemic response.