CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s lead poisoning rate has hovered around 20% since 2019, according to the city’s Director of Public Health David Margolius.

The city’s health department has been working with community partners and property owners to bring that rate down, but now, Margolius said he and his colleague are facing a new obstacle.

“As far as lead poisoning, with our rate two- to three-times higher than than Flint, Michigan, at its peak. We are relying on the federal government for help,” Margolius said. “We need the federal government to step in.”

Children with blood levels above 3.5 μg/dL are evaluated by the Cleveland Public Health Department. (City of Cleveland).

Two more schools in Milwaukee temporarily closed this week because of lead exposure, after Milwaukee Public Schools announced efforts to address lead hazards in seven other schools earlier this year. There is no safe level of lead, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a long-time partner of Milwaukee’s health department. 

But now, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Mike Totoraitis said they could be on their own in tackling this issue, after the CDC denied the health department's request for for help last week.

“On April 1, there was the first reductions in forces to the CDC, and the entire childhood lead team was eliminated out of the CDC,” Totoraitis said. “And the third of April, we received formal notification that our aid was denied because of the complete elimination of that team.”

Totoraitis said the Milwaukee health department is already struggling to address an uptick in lead poisoning cases among children.

Westside Academy and Brown Street School are the latest Milwaukee school district buildings to close in efforts to address lead hazards. (City of Milwaukee Health Department).

“Our structure is geared to respond to a thousand children every year, and we don't have capacity to screen in tens of thousands of children that we're actively screening right now,” he said. “...We need that federal assistance to support this larger scale screening efforts that need to happen.”

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan to overhaul the U.S. Health and Human Services Department in March, slashing agencies responsible for tracking disease outbreaks and funding medical research.

Still, Margolius said he will continue pushing for federal support.

“We're handcuffed and the ability to help our own residents,” Margolius said. “Because, the federal government have been helping us for decades with all these fights and currently is unresponsive to our needs.”