Inside Feds could cut 25 percent of city’s FEMA funding for testing sites.

Move includes loss of 6 testing site workers; congressman asks FEMA to reverse course

Federal authorities are expected to slash 25 percent of Houston’s funding to administer the city’s coronavirus testing sites and relocate six site workers.

Mayor Sylvester Turner and U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, both warned about the cuts at news conferences Sunday.

Turner acknowledged Sunday that he was disappointed by the abrupt removal of six federal health care workers from city testing sites. But he remained resolute.

“We’re going to just assume that we are going to have to rely on the resources we have,” Turner told the Chronicle. “It’s like what happened after (Hurricane) Harvey;

we can’t just wait on the cavalry to come.”

The health care workers to be pulled from the city’s testing sites are in advisory roles that help monitor supply levels of such things as infection control, personal protection equipment and processing, Turner said. They are expected to depart April 10.

The mayor said he had been in talks with federal authorities over the past week and knew there was a possibility “that they might be leaving us,” but it was not confirmed.

Although the sites are locally managed, they rely on the federal government for testing supplies and additional medical personnel. Officials have not heard where the funding would be diverted or additional details on where the workers would go.

“If they’re going back into the general fund that would be highly, highly unacceptable,” Green told the Chronicle. “This is not a time to try to pad the coffers while we have lives at risk.”

The Federal Emergency Man

agement Agency notified the city on March 31 that it was making cuts and removing staff “no later than April 10.” Green wrote in a letter to FEMA on April 1 that the cuts could hamper local responses to COVID-19.

“This decision could have dire consequences for our constituents, and it is an unnecessary complication

for the city to deal with as it tries to respond to this pandemic,” he said.

U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, Sylvia R. Garcia and Lizzie Fletcher, all Houston Democrats, also signed the letter.

In the interim, Green has asked FEMA to extend funding to April 30, and if possible, scrap the cuts altogether.

FEMA just provided a new round of medical supplies to the county on Thursday after Harris

County Judge Lina Hidalgo warned that testing sites would shut down if they ran out of equipment.

The agency has acknowledged receipt of the letter, addressed to FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor, but has not provided a response, Green said.

One question still unresolved is if any resources pulled from the city will return if Houston experiences the kind of surge many health care workers fear is coming but has not yet arrived.

Most health care experts believe that the infection rate in Houston is much greater than the numbers reflect because of persistent barriers to testing.

As of Sunday, Turner estimated that about 4,500 tests have been conducted so far at the two city sites. The turnaround for results is averaging five to seven days but can stretch longer.