A judge in Rhode Island on Thursday blocked $11 billion in public health funding while a lawsuit from 23 states and D.C. plays out.

Milwaukee-area health departments planned to use the funding for a neighborhood nursing program, wastewater surveillance and routine vaccinations.

Employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) knew that mass layoffs would be coming on April 1. But many did not expect the cuts to be so deep—or the implications of the layoffs to be so potentially detrimental to the health and wellbeing of American families.