The abrupt termination of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) is a reckless and dangerous decision that puts the lives of patients, nurses, and healthcare workers at risk across the country. This committee has provided national standards for infection control such as hand washing, mask wearing, and isolating patients — the very basics that keep deadly outbreaks at bay.

To shut it down in silence, without explanation or a plan to replace it, is not only irresponsible, it is alarming. With drug-resistant organisms on the rise and new pathogens constantly emerging, hospitals cannot afford to be left without up-to-date, science-based guidelines. Stopping HICPAC’s work now leaves us vulnerable just when we need infection control more than ever.

This decision was not about safety. It was about politics. The committee was close to releasing new, long-overdue airborne pathogen guidelines shaped by hard-earned lessons from COVID-19. Instead of learning from the past, the Trump administration is dismantling critical public health infrastructure.

This is not just about bureaucracy. It is about whether patients survive hospital stays. It is about whether our nurses are protected. And it is about whether we choose to be prepared or choose to look away.

We demand the immediate reinstatement of HICPAC. Our public health should never be a casualty of political agendas.