CDC cutbacks a serious threat to public health

The recent news of the decimation of the staffing of multiple agencies at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shocked the nation and elicited alarm from health care providers (“Mass layoffs are underway at the nation’s public health agencies,” April 1).

Some of the affected agencies and programs included tuberculosis prevention, oral health, workplace safety and HIV prevention. These workforce reductions will have a significant negative impact on public health and will increase the cost burden to our overall health infrastructure.

We rely on the CDC to provide disease surveillance, promote prevention of disease and offer guidance documents that assist in establishing regulatory standards.

The CDC helps to keep us safe. Our country can do better than this. These drastic cuts to vital programs must be reversed.

— Leslie E. Grant, DDS, Glen Arm

The writer is a former president of the National Dental Association.

In Westminster, a chilling arrest captured on video

No matter how one feels about Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation policies, the description of the March 31 arrest of Westminster resident Elsy Berrios in The Baltimore Sun, an event caught on her daughter’s cellphone video, is truly chilling (“Video: Maryland mother from El Salvador removed from car, arrested,” April 8).

As she was driving to her seamstress job with her daughter in the car, two men, one of whom was dressed all in black with his face masked, shattered her car window, pulled her from the car and refused to show a warrant when asked. Then she was shipped to a prison in Pennsylvania after a night in a Baltimore holding room. Was this a federal government operation or a violent gang kidnapping? I don’t see a difference.

A bond hearing is scheduled for April 14. Where will it be and is it open to the public? I sincerely hope The Sun and reporter Racquel Bazos will follow up.

— Steve Block, Baltimore

Maryland’s budget: Bigger or not?

Just a tiny question for Gov. Wes Moore: If the total budget for Maryland is bigger than last year’s, how is that a cut in spending (“Maryland’s $67B budget is on its way to Gov. Wes Moore after dramatic deficit year,” April 7)?

Or is this the usual political terminology that a cut means getting less than you wanted?

— David Posner, Reisterstown

Not to ruffle feathers, but O’s have some issues

You really need a shrink and somebody with advanced medical skills to properly analyze the 2025 Orioles. They started the year 5-6, been in both ends of blowout-type games. But given The Baltimore Sun’s reading of the pulse of Birdland, nearly 80% of respondents in your recent poll had either major or minor “concerns” about the so-so start (“READER POLL: How concerned are you about the Orioles?” April 7).

Their roster construction is very unusual. There is very little depth, so injuries to any starter — Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman — leaves them very vulnerable. They might be a decent starting nine, but they are a horrible bench. Injuries have already sidelined half the starting pitching, so the bullpen will be taxed by mid-July.

As everybody knows, they need pitching. But we seem to pass on the obvious guys. That’s why Garrett Crochet is pitching in Boston, and Corbin Burnes in the Valley of the Sun. Fortunately, the American League East is uncharacteristically weak. It is certainly no National League West.

The New York Yankees are way overrated, the Boston Red Sox unproven while Toronto and Tampa Bay don’t seem like anything special.

As for the Orioles, they could be a little of all the above. I’m still going to my share of nights at Camden Yards. But mostly I go for the crab cakes and to catch up with best friends.

— John D. Schulz, Cockeysville