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Why did Fulton lay off 17 health workers? Officials won’t say

Why did Fulton lay off 17 health workers? Officials won’t say

Advocates say they are worried about HIV prevention services after the layoffs.

Rebecca Grapevine
May 29, 2025

The HIV prevention community is worried this week after the Fulton County Board of Health laid off 17 people working on HIV and sexual health services.

After the surprise terminations, the Georgia Department of Public Health placed Fulton County district health director Dr. Lynn Paxton and human resources director Carol Lawrence on unpaid administrative leave, saying the layoffs hadn’t been approved by the state.

The layoffs have raised many questions that state and county officials have refused to answer. Among them: Why the layoffs took place; how the positions were funded; why the state objected to the layoffs, and what authority it has over county staffing.

Jack Hardin, chairman of the Fulton health department’s board, told Healthbeat he had been assured that HIV services in Fulton will not be impacted. But community advocates gathered in East Point on Wednesday said they fear people will fall through the cracks.

Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties have among the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in the country, according to 2022 data.

“Our lives are in danger,” said Reggie Smith, the executive director of a foundation focused on helping Black heterosexual people with HIV. Those who need medication to prevent or treat HIV are especially vulnerable. Advocates also called on officials to provide more information about the layoffs. “If you're working for the public, and your public dollars, the public deserves and needs to know,” said Masonia Traylor, who founded Lady BurgAndy, a nonprofit focused on supporting women and youth impacted by HIV.

ICYMI

Here’s a recap of the latest reporting from Healthbeat:

At the club, on a bus, at home: Easy ways to get tested for HIV in Atlanta
From the national desk: Restrictions on healthy people’s Covid vaccine access fuel worry

The Grapevine 🍇

Terrance Raiford manages the clinic inside the Out of the Box thrift store. (Rebecca Grapevine / Healthbeat)

In reporting a guide to where to get HIV testing in Atlanta, I stopped by the Out of the Box thrift store in Ansley Mall. Classic sneakers and old furniture for sale sit outside the doors of a brand new sexual health clinic that opened inside the store in April. The clinic provides free services, including HIV testing. It’s a “destigmatizing space,” said Imara Canady of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

What readers are saying:

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“I do wonder what the funding source was of those workers. If they were being paid by CARE’s funds, I do get it.”

A reader commenting on the story about layoffs at the Fulton County health department, referring to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020.

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In health,
Rebecca

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