--- title: CDC Flu Tracking Will Go On During the Government Shutdown description: CDC flu tracking will continue during the government shutdown, according to a Department of Health and Human Service contingency plan. canonical: https://time.com/5111119/cdc-flu-tracking-government-shutdown/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-20T15:35:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:56:59.846Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Flu Tracking Will Go On During the Government Shutdown og:description: But 63% of its employees will be furloughed og:url: https://time.com/5111119/cdc-flu-tracking-government-shutdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta64b4fd919d76b47/6988f73386f68e4ff96e7cb9/cdc-headquarters.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: CDC Chief Dr. Thomas Frieden Updates Media On Dallas Ebola Response og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Flu Tracking Will Go On During the Government Shutdown twitter:description: But 63% of its employees will be furloughed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta64b4fd919d76b47/6988f73386f68e4ff96e7cb9/cdc-headquarters.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CDC Flu Tracking Will Continue Despite the Government Shutdown > Sponsored content. 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Jan 20, 2018 3:35 PM UTC The CDC will continue tracking this year’s [particularly severe flu season](http://time.com/5105929/why-is-the-flu-so-bad-2018/) during the government shutdown, according to a [contingency plan from the Department of Health and Human Services](https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy-2018-hhs-contingency-staffing-plan/index.html#summary-of-activities). While the government is shut down, only federal activity deemed essential remains uninterrupted — and, according to the HHS document, that will include influenza monitoring and reporting. “CDC’s immediate response to urgent disease outbreaks, including seasonal influenza, would continue,” the plan says. “To continue ongoing influenza surveillance, CDC would collect data being reported by states, hospitals and others, and report out critical information needed for state and local health authorities and providers to track, prevent and treat the disease.” The [CDC tracks a host of data related to the flu](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivitysurv.htm), including [its spread across the country](http://time.com/5108077/2018-flu-map/), confirmed cases and [deaths and hospitalizations related to the virus](http://time.com/5099042/influenza-deaths-flu/). The 2018 flu season, which has been particularly active, has kept the agency especially busy, even prompting a [last-minute briefing on the topic last week](https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/t0112-widespread-flu-activity.html). Despite the continuation of flu tracking, however, the CDC is likely to be short-staffed during the shutdown. Sixty-three percent of CDC employees, some 8,500 people, will be furloughed during the shutdown, according to the HHS plan. Half of all HHS employees — including those from the FDA, NIH and other health agencies — will be furloughed, according to the report. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5111119/cdc-flu-tracking-government-shutdown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5111119/cdc-flu-tracking-government-shutdown/"},"headline":"CDC Flu Tracking Will Continue Despite the Government Shutdown","datePublished":"2018-01-20T15:35:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:56:59.846Z","description":"But 63% of its employees will be furloughed","url":"https://time.com/5111119/cdc-flu-tracking-government-shutdown/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta64b4fd919d76b47/6988f73386f68e4ff96e7cb9/cdc-headquarters.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta64b4fd919d76b47/6988f73386f68e4ff96e7cb9/cdc-headquarters.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CDC Chief Dr. Thomas Frieden Updates Media On Dallas Ebola Response","caption":"CDC Chief Dr. Thomas Frieden Updates Media On Dallas Ebola Response","creditText":"Jessica McGowan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5111119/cdc-flu-tracking-government-shutdown/","name":"CDC Flu Tracking Will Continue Despite the Government Shutdown"}}]}] ```