Federal officials appear to have "revoked" the layoffs of more than 400 employees of the CDC who had been abruptly dismissed months ago. The USG may reinstate the entire staff that tracks viral hepatitis and most employees in one of the CDC's environmental health divisions. The workers were among thousands that the HHS laid off on 1 April as part of a reduction in force, most of whom are still out of work. Employees of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention accounted for 214 of the staff "expected to receive the rescission of RIF notifications." Some of these scientists performed disease surveillance work unlike any other labs in the world. Staff confirmed that the lapse in activity during the layoff caused damage in some of their labs and up-to-date disease surveillance was not conducted.