No CDC, No FEMA, No Safety Net—The Deliberate Collapse of Public Health Has Begun

The safety net is gone. When the next pandemic hits, there will be no federal response—just chaos. Here’s what’s coming and how to prepare.

I can’t offer you comfort—only clarity.

But clarity is power. As long as we are reactive, we are predictable. As long as we are predictable, they have the power. That’s the game. But seeing this—naming it, refusing to look away—is already an act of defiance.

They rely on silence. They rely on people looking away. They rely on fear turning into paralysis. Refusing to let that happen is resistance.

When a government dismantles public health, it doesn’t call it an attack. It calls it ‘reform,’ ‘efficiency,’ or ‘returning power to the states.’

But make no mistake: the deliberate stripping of public health protections, combined with rising disease outbreaks, is setting the stage for a disaster we won’t be able to contain.

We’ve seen this playbook before. During COVID, denial and delays cost lives—but at least there was still a federal response. This time, even that is being dismantled.

There will be no CDC guidance, no FEMA mobilization, no international coordination. The next crisis will come, and this time, we are on our own.

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Step 1: Public Health Is Being Systematically Dismantled

The CDC and Federal Health Agencies Are Being Purged

Public health in the U.S. is no longer governed by science—it is controlled by ideologues who are dismantling it piece by piece. At the helm is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a conspiracy theorist with a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation. In his first weeks as Secretary of Health and Human Services, he eliminated public input on healthcare policy, ensuring that decisions about Medicare, Medicaid, vaccines, and disease response will now be made without oversight. Meanwhile, mass firings and politically motivated hires across federal agencies are crippling public health infrastructure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is being systematically dismantled:

• 1,300 public health officers have been laid off, including entire teams of disease detectives and lab researchers.

• The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) faced an unprecedented disruption and is now omitting critical disease surveillance, including the ongoing H5N1 bird flu outbreak.

• Doctors, hospitals, and state health departments now have no centralized guidance when outbreaks occur.

This isn’t just defunding public health—it’s the strategic dismantling of America’s disease response system. Mass firings at the CDC, censorship of key reports, and the elimination of oversight ensure that the next outbreak will be met with confusion, delays, and inaction. With no centralized response, hospitals will be on their own, forced to make life-or-death decisions without federal coordination.

At the USDA, the administration has also placed new political appointees with no public health or veterinary expertise in key roles overseeing the nation's animal disease response:

• Kailee Tkacz Buller, Chief of Staff, previously worked in the edible oil industry and has no public health background.

• Preston Parry, Deputy Chief of Staff, formerly worked for the America First Policy Institute, with no experience in animal or public health.

• Jennifer Tiller, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary, was a legislative staffer in agricultural policy, not disease prevention.

Project 2025 is privatizing public health, putting corporations in charge of who gets care—and at what price. Instead of elected officials leading pandemic response, pharmaceutical companies and insurers will dictate care access.

What to Watch For: Further layoffs at the CDC and other federal health agencies, weakening disease surveillance and response. Key public health reports, like the MMWR, continuing to be delayed, censored, or eliminated. Lawsuits challenging the firings and restructuring, and whether they gain traction or are ignored. Increased privatization of public health functions, shifting control to corporations with profit motives.

The U.S. Has Cut Itself Off From Global Health Systems

In a move with catastrophic consequences for pandemic response, the U.S. has initiated withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), a process that takes 12 months to finalize. However, Trump ordered an immediate halt to all communications with the WHO, cutting off federal health agencies from global disease monitoring systems overnight.

The U.S. has historically been the largest financial contributor to the WHO, and its withdrawal further destabilizes an already financially strained organization.

This means:

• The U.S. will no longer have real-time access to global outbreak alerts, meaning critical weeks—or even months—could be lost before new threats are recognized.

• Vaccine distribution networks that were once coordinated through the WHO will now operate without U.S. participation—cutting Americans off from critical supply chains.

• Future pandemic responses will be isolated and slower, increasing the risk of unchecked spread before vaccines or treatments can be developed.

• The WHO, already struggling with funding, will be weakened further, impacting global health initiatives beyond pandemic response, including disease eradication and emergency medical aid.

The U.S. is flying blind. Without global coordination, we won’t see the next pandemic coming until it’s already here. When vaccines and treatments are needed, Americans will be last in line.

What to Watch For: More severed ties between the U.S. and global health organizations beyond the WHO. Disruptions in vaccine distribution networks, particularly for pandemics and emerging diseases. Delays in outbreak detection due to loss of global disease surveillance. Other countries forming independent coalitions to replace U.S. involvement in health initiatives.

The Erasure of Public Health Information

The attack on public health isn’t just about defunding agencies—it’s about eliminating access to life-saving information. Under new policies:

• Public health websites containing information on HIV prevention, STIs, and LGBTQ+ health have been scrubbed.

• Scientific research using terms like "gender," "climate change," or "vaccine safety" is being halted or retracted.

Doctors, parents, and the public are now being denied the ability to access information that could protect them from preventable disease outbreaks. The systematic scrubbing of medical guidelines from public databases will ensure that when the next crisis hits, even those seeking to protect themselves will be left without reliable sources.

When the next crisis hits, the information needed to respond will already be erased. This isn’t incompetence—it’s intentional. A censored public is a defenseless public. When disease spreads, people will search for guidance only to find the facts are gone, rewritten, or buried under propaganda.

What to Watch For: Public health websites continuing to disappear or be altered without explanation. Key medical research being retracted, censored, or rewritten to fit political narratives. Increased misinformation campaigns targeting vaccines, disease prevention, and scientific research. Greater restrictions on academic institutions, preventing independent public health studies.

Medicaid Cuts Will Leave Millions Without Care

As the public health infrastructure collapses, so does access to healthcare itself. The House GOP’s proposed budget slashes $880 billion from Medicaid over the next decade—the largest rollback of public healthcare in U.S. history. These cuts will result in millions of low-income Americans losing coverage, disproportionately affecting children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

At the same time, Project 2025 calls for federal Medicaid rollbacks, stricter eligibility requirements, and lifetime benefit limits—measures that would permanently entrench a healthcare caste system, where access to life-saving care depends entirely on wealth. States are now rejecting Medicaid expansion, further exacerbating healthcare disparities. Even states that have expanded Medicaid are now facing devastating cuts due to frozen federal funds. In Illinois alone, nearly 770,000 residents could lose coverage, with potential funding losses reaching $1.9 billion. More states are expected to face similar shortfalls.

As states reject Medicaid expansion and federal funding is slashed, healthcare is no longer a right; it’s a privilege only the wealthy can afford. Millions will face medical debt, untreated conditions, and preventable deaths while hospitals in poorer areas shut down for good.

What to Watch For: More states rejecting Medicaid expansion, leading to mass disenrollment. The introduction of lifetime benefit caps and harsher eligibility requirements. Hospital closures in rural and low-income areas due to loss of Medicaid reimbursements. Accelerated privatization of Medicaid, increasing corporate control over public health.

Mask Bans Will Make the Next Pandemic Impossible to Contain

States like Texas, Idaho, and Indiana have already moved to ban mask mandates in schools, hospitals, and government buildings, ensuring that even the most vulnerable—including immunocompromised individuals, the elderly, and children—will be unable to rely on basic protections during future outbreaks.

Project 2025 explicitly calls for dismantling pandemic-era public health measures, particularly mask mandates, and encourages states to prevent any future enforcement. This ensures that when the next airborne crisis hits, the virus will spread unchecked, with no government intervention to slow its impact.

This isn’t just about mandates—it’s about criminalizing masks themselves. Multiple states have introduced or expanded laws that prohibit masks in public, creating legal loopholes that allow law enforcement to target and penalize those who wear them.

While framed as measures against crime or civil unrest, these policies will have devastating consequences when the next airborne virus emerges. They are removing the ability to fight back. The next airborne pandemic won’t just spread—it will spread by design, while legal threats keep people from protecting themselves.

What to Watch For: More states passing laws banning mask mandates in schools, hospitals, and workplaces. Laws expanding to criminalize wearing masks in public under the guise of “anti-crime” measures. Targeted harassment or arrests of people wearing masks for health reasons. Further attacks on other public health measures, including restrictions on vaccines and quarantine protocols.

FEMA and Emergency Medical Aid Are Being Cut

At a time when public health protections are needed more than ever, FEMA’s role in disaster response is being systematically dismantled. Grants that fund hospitals, disease response teams, and public health infrastructure are being frozen or revoked. This means that even before FEMA is officially gutted, lifesaving resources are already being pulled away from communities that rely on them in emergencies.

At the same time, Trump has signed an executive order to review the agency—while publicly suggesting that disaster response should be handed over to the states. This aligns directly with Project 2025’s calls to strip FEMA of its ability to coordinate national emergency aid. Under this vision, future public health disasters—whether pandemics, bioterror attacks, or extreme weather-driven outbreaks—will be left entirely to state governments, many of which have already deprioritized public health in favor of political ideology.

The consequences will be catastrophic. States with well-funded public health systems may be able to manage on their own, but others—particularly red states that have cut healthcare funding and banned public health measures—will become epicenters of preventable crises. There will be no federal safety net. If hospitals overflow, if vaccines run out, if disease spreads—that is the plan.

What to Watch For: Additional FEMA layoffs and further defunding of disaster relief programs. More frozen or revoked funding for hospitals and emergency response teams. States struggling to manage disaster response without federal coordination. Misinformation campaigns framing the dismantling of FEMA as “efficiency” or “reducing government waste.” Increased reliance on privatized emergency response, benefiting only those who can afford it.

If you were waiting for a federal emergency response to step in when the next disaster hits, stop waiting. FEMA is being dismantled in real time. When hospitals are overwhelmed, vaccine supply chains collapse, and cities face public health disasters, the federal government will not be coming to help. That is the plan.

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Step 2: The Next Public Health Crisis Is Already Emerging

Measles Outbreaks Are Spreading—And Already Killing Children

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known, spreading through the air and lingering for hours. Right now, outbreaks are unfolding across nine states, with 164 confirmed cases. Texas has already seen the first child death.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. initially downplayed the outbreak, suggesting it was “not unusual” and implying that hospitalizations were primarily for quarantine purposes. Even after the first U.S. measles death in over a decade, he dismissed concerns, arguing that the media was exaggerating the situation. Only later, under mounting pressure, did he reverse his stance, calling it a “top priority” for HHS.

Despite this reversal, Kennedy’s decades-long role in spreading vaccine misinformation helped create the conditions for this crisis. His false claims linking vaccines to autism and his advocacy against childhood immunization mandates have fueled distrust, leading to declining vaccination rates across the country. While he has not formally moved to eliminate vaccine mandates, his recent actions—including canceling key meetings and replacing advisors—suggest that changes to immunization policies may be on the horizon.

Public health experts warn that without strong vaccination efforts, measles will become a permanent public health threat.

Protect Yourself: The MMR vaccine is 97% effective, but many adults born between 1957 and 1989 may not have received the full two doses. If you’re unsure, get a booster. Wearing an N95 mask in indoor spaces can help reduce exposure. If exposed, quarantine for at least 10 days to prevent further spread.

H5N1 Bird Flu Is Spreading in Mammals—And Infecting Humans

The H5N1 bird flu virus has now jumped to mammals, infecting dairy cows, cats, and even humans. The CDC has confirmed human cases in Wyoming, Ohio, and now Louisiana, where the first U.S. H5N1 death has been reported. Coverage has been minimal, focusing only on egg prices rather than the growing risk to human health. The CDC’s own deleted report suggests that even public health officials may be resisting behind the scenes.

Despite these alarming developments, Trump is still considering pulling the U.S. out of the human H5N1 vaccine program. The only vaccination program he has approved is for poultry after receiving pressure due to campaign promises regarding egg prices.

At the same time, the administration has fired dozens of top virologists and epidemiologists at the USDA, including several senior officials who specialized in zoonotic disease transmission. The firings have left critical surveillance teams understaffed at a moment when agricultural infections are spreading. The administration has also placed new political appointees with no public health or veterinary expertise in key roles overseeing the nation's animal disease response.

Public health officials warn that reduced surveillance and limited transparency could delay detection of a mutation that allows human-to-human spread increasing the risk of an outbreak that spirals out of control. Right now, the CDC considers H5N1 a low risk to the general population—but that assumes robust monitoring, which no longer exists. Cases are appearing in mammals and even humans. The risk isn’t where we are—it’s what happens next. Without robust disease tracking, a critical mutation could emerge without warning until it’s too late.

What to Watch For: Sudden shifts in the administration’s response if the outbreak worsens. Changes in the poultry industry influencing vaccine policies. Further reductions in disease surveillance funding. Mutations of the virus allowing for human-to-human transmission.

Protect Yourself: Avoid direct contact with farm animals and monitor food safety warnings regarding dairy and poultry. Stockpile flu antivirals like Tamiflu and Relenza while they are still available. Stay informed about outbreak developments, particularly any human-to-human transmission cases.

Deadly Drug-Resistant Fungal Infections Are Spreading

Fungal infections, once a rare concern, are now emerging as a serious public health threat. The CDC has identified Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungus, as a growing danger. Originally found in hospitals, it is now spreading in long-term care facilities and even the general population.

Unlike bacterial infections, fungal infections are more difficult to treat, with limited antifungal medications available. The World Health Organization has warned that climate change is driving the evolution of fungi, making once-harmless species more capable of infecting humans.

Protect Yourself: Avoid unnecessary antibiotic use, as it can increase susceptibility to fungal infections. If you or a loved one are in a hospital or long-term care facility, ask about infection control protocols. Stay informed about outbreaks, as public health data is becoming more difficult to access.

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Step 3: The Hidden Pandemic Risks We Aren’t Tracking

Beyond these immediate threats, other emerging pathogens remain under research. However, with mass layoffs at federal health agencies and the systematic dismantling of public health funding, surveillance on these risks is collapsing.

Nipah Virus: A Deadly Virus with No Cure

• Transmitted from animals to humans, with a fatality rate as high as 75%.

• Spread through bats, contaminated food, and close human contact.

• No vaccine or treatment exists, making early detection critical—but surveillance is being defunded.

New Strains of Avian Flu (H5N2, H3N8, and others)

• While H5N1 is the most well-known, other avian flu strains are being monitored for their potential to jump to humans.

• H5N2 has been detected in dairy cattle and has caused its first human death in Mexico. Meanwhile, H3N8 has also reported its first human fatality in China.

The Growing Threat of Climate-Driven Pathogens

• Rising temperatures are accelerating the mutation of viruses and fungi.

• Melting permafrost is releasing ancient microbes—many of which have never been encountered by modern medicine.

• Waterborne diseases, including cholera and norovirus, are increasing as warming oceans create the perfect breeding ground.

With mass layoffs at federal health agencies, disease surveillance is collapsing. The next pandemic may not come from a single virus—it may come from multiple outbreaks at once, and we won’t even see them coming. We are losing early detection which means no warnings, no containment, and no time to prepare. The world will know before we do, and by then, it will be too late.

What to Watch For: Further CDC and WHO funding cuts, limiting outbreak detection. Research delays as scientists lose access to federal grants. Increasing reports of “mystery illnesses” due to the collapse of disease surveillance.

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Step 4: Why Are They Doing This?

The dismantling of public health isn’t a mistake, a failure, or mismanagement—it’s the plan. The people behind it aren’t just cutting budgets or eliminating "inefficiencies"; they are deliberately making it harder for the public to survive preventable disease outbreaks. But why?

There are three primary reasons for this attack on public health: controlling perception, profiting from collapse, and consolidating power.

Controlling Perception: Why Erasing Public Health Data Is a Power Move

Public health isn’t just about vaccines and hospitals—it’s about data. If a government wants to avoid blame, its first move is to erase the evidence.

We've seen this tactic before:

• The 1918 Spanish Flu – Governments censored news of the outbreak to avoid public panic, letting the virus spread unchecked.

• China’s COVID Cover-Up – In the early days of the pandemic, whistleblowers were silenced, data was hidden, and warnings were ignored.

• Bolsonaro’s Brazil – COVID deaths were deliberately underreported to create the illusion that the crisis was over.

The U.S. is now following this exact blueprint. By eliminating the CDC’s ability to report outbreaks, cutting disease surveillance, and removing public health guidance from government websites, they are ensuring that when the next pandemic comes, there will be no official record of the crisis until it’s too late.

What happens when a pandemic isn’t tracked? It becomes “overhyped.” “A hoax.” “Just the flu.” If there’s no data, there’s no crisis. And if there’s no crisis, they are never responsible.

Profiting from Collapse: How Disaster Capitalism Benefits from Public Health Failure

Every system in collapse creates a market of desperation. When governments withdraw from providing basic services, private industries step in—at a profit. This is the disaster capitalism model, and it’s already being deployed.

We saw it happen after the fall of the Soviet Union:

• Post-Soviet Russia’s privatization of healthcare led to skyrocketing rates of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

• Life expectancy dropped nearly 10 years as hospitals shut down and treatments became inaccessible.

• The wealthy bought up failing industries and created an oligarchy that still controls Russia today.

This is the playbook they are using now. By gutting public health:

• Pharmaceutical companies profit when vaccines and treatments become pay-to-access.

• Private insurance wins when public healthcare safety nets like Medicaid are stripped away.

• Billionaires stay safe—they can afford private doctors, pandemic bunkers, and medical tourism abroad.

For them, mass death isn’t a crisis—it’s a business opportunity. The more desperate people become for basic survival, the easier they are to control.

Consolidating Power: How Public Health Collapse Helps Authoritarians

The final and most dangerous reason for dismantling public health is to eliminate resistance before it begins.

Public health protections don’t just save lives—they enable stability, organization, and resistance. If people are too sick, too exhausted, or too desperate, they can’t fight back. We’ve seen this before:

• Brazil’s COVID disaster under Bolsonaro wasn’t just negligence—it was strategic. By encouraging infection and defunding emergency response, he ensured that public outrage never reached critical mass.

• Putin used the healthcare crisis of post-Soviet Russia to justify authoritarian rule, framing himself as the only one who could "fix" the broken system he helped create.

• Fascist regimes historically exploit instability to push through extreme policies while people are too overwhelmed to resist.

Russia has a history of weaponizing public health crises, from Cold War disinformation campaigns against vaccines to amplifying COVID-19 misinformation to destabilize the U.S. Now, as America’s disease surveillance collapses, adversaries stand to gain. A country in constant crisis is easier to manipulate—whether through economic warfare, cyberattacks, or targeted misinformation that fuels division and weakens resistance. Public health isn’t just about survival; it’s about sovereignty.

The GOP is following the same trajectory:

• Dismantle public health to create permanent instability.

• Ensure that mass outbreaks make public gatherings (protests, strikes) dangerous.

• Use the chaos to justify emergency powers, martial law, and state crackdowns.

• Weaken voter turnout by making it dangerous or impossible for certain groups to vote.

• Lay the groundwork for election delays or cancellations under the guise of a ‘public health emergency.’

Expect public health crises to be weaponized as justifications for emergency rule, election ‘irregularities,’ and restrictions on in-person voting. In states that have already closed polling places in marginalized areas, disease outbreaks will become an easy pretext for further limiting voting access.

We’ve already seen vague references in Project 2025 to expanding executive power during crises, and the legal framework for election disruptions exists under national emergency declarations. If a major outbreak happens close to an election, they can use it to restrict in-person voting, shut down polling locations, or even argue for an election delay.

The more preventable suffering they create, the more they can justify harsher laws, more policing, and more control. The goal isn’t just to make people suffer—it’s to make sure they accept their suffering as inevitable.

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Step 5: How to Protect Yourself Before It’s Too Late

Public health systems no longer exist to protect you. That means your survival will depend on how well you prepare now.

Medical Preparedness

• Get up to date on vaccines. Measles, Flu, COVID, Pneumonia—anything preventable.

• Stock essential medications—antibiotics, antihistamines, fever reducers, and flu antivirals like Tamiflu.

• Secure a first-aid kit with supplies for wound care, dehydration, and respiratory distress.

• If you rely on prescription meds, stockpile extras now before supply chains fail.

• Your health is a weapon. Get enough sleep, eat nutrient-dense food, and exercise when you can. Chronic stress and exhaustion make people easier to control.

Protection Against Disease Spread

• Invest in N95 masks while they are still available. You will need them for airborne diseases, dust storms, and chemical exposure.

• Stock hygiene essentials. Soap, sanitizer, gloves, and disinfectants will become critical in outbreaks.

• Secure water purification options. Boil water alerts will increase as infrastructure deteriorates.

Access to Medical Care

• Identify hospitals that still accept uninsured patients in your area.

• Learn first aid and basic medical procedures. You cannot assume a hospital will be available when you need it.

• Consider medical tourism options—hospitals in Mexico and Canada may become safer and more accessible than those in the U.S.

Building a Survival Network

• Find or create a local mutual aid group. Public health collapses hit the poor first—community resources will matter.

• Stock medical resources to share. Antibiotics and rehydration solutions will save lives.

• Have a trusted doctor or nurse in your network. If official health systems fail, local knowledge will be critical.

How to Mentally Prepare for What’s Coming

• Expect breakdowns in public trust. When outbreaks occur, misinformation will be rampant. You will need to verify everything.

• Expect media narratives that frame outbreaks as ‘hoaxes’ or ‘exaggerations’ to justify inaction.

• Stop waiting for help. The government has made it clear there will be none. The best time to prepare was yesterday. The next best time is right now.

• Make a plan now, while you still can. Panic buying starts the moment people realize it's too late. Beat the rush—prepare before the shortages come.

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This Is Systemic Violence

Systemic violence isn’t about physical force. It’s the deliberate removal of protections that keep people alive.

They expect silence. They expect people to feel helpless. They expect this to happen in the dark. Naming it, spreading it, and refusing to look away are the first acts of resistance.

The dismantling of public health isn’t just about budget cuts, inefficiencies, or ideological battles. This is violence.

When a government deliberately weakens its own ability to detect, respond to, and mitigate disease outbreaks, it is knowingly condemning people to suffering and death.

This isn’t mismanagement. This is Project 2025.

The only question is whether we see it for what it is—and what we do about it.

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Further Reading

Analyses - In-depth breakdowns examining the systems driving democratic collapse—exposing threats, tactics, and timelines to empower informed resistance.

Playbooks - Actionable strategic guides that directly respond to each analysis, providing step-by-step resistance plans designed for immediate implementation.

Insights - Timely, targeted pieces highlighting critical events, emerging threats, and essential context—keeping you ahead of developments as they unfold.

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