Ping Huang

Erin Melton Backus was one of them.

She's at the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, and it was the third time this year she's received a termination notice.

The cuts that remain affect CDC staff who brief Congress, those working on chronic disease and nutrition, and human resources staff who are called back from furlough to lay off their colleagues and members of their own team.

In an email, an HHS spokesperson declined to confirm numbers but said the terminated staffers were non-essential.

Ping Huang, NPR News.