Potential 1/31 government shutdown will not affect ND HHS disease control operations

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (ND HHS) says that the potential government shutdown on Jan. 31 should not affect their disease control operations.

A major reason the odds jumped is a political standoff in the Senate over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding.

After recent federal immigration enforcement operations resulted in the deaths of two protestors, some Senate Democrats have said they will block the DHS funding bill unless changes are made to immigration enforcement.

Despite the uncertainty in Washington, state health officials say the impacts here in North Dakota would be limited.

“If there was a government shutdown at the end of the month, that shouldn’t affect our ability to respond in North Dakota, we do receive federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and we already have our award for this year, so we already have our funding for this year,” said ND HHS Director of Disease Control Molly Howell.

Officials say that means disease surveillance, lab testing and outbreak response would continue as normal, even if some federal agencies scale back operations.