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MILWAUKEE (WISN) -- Milwaukee health and school officials are dealing with a major blow in their ongoing lead paint crisis.
The Milwaukee Health Department commissioner said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention denied his request for help. It comes as the health department looks into yet another case of a lead-poisoned student.
Since January, the health department has confirmed lead dangers in seven schools. Four had to be shut down for cleanup. Three remain closed to students.
Commissioner Michael Totoraitis said they've been leaning on the federal government's expertise since the onset of the district's crisis.
On March 26, Totoraitis said he sent an email formally requesting the deployment of 3-4 federal workers. They would have been in Milwaukee for roughly a month.
"We really wanted to make a pragmatic plan to approach each of the children that tested with an elevation or lead poisoning and quickly discern, is it from home or is it from the school? Is it a combination of both, which would make it even more complicated?" Totoraitis said Monday. "The CDC team was really going to come help us look at that data as we started to collect that."
The commissioner received one response from a CDC worker on April 1, which said, "My entire division was eliminated today."
Two days later, the health department received another follow-up email that said, "I sincerely regret to inform you that due to the complete loss of our Lead Program, we will be unable to support you."
"It's a pretty stark moment for us in the department to not have someone to reach out to federally," Totoraitis said.
The CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have not yet responded to WISN 12 News' request for comment.
So far, the health department has investigated four lead-poisoned students with exposure possibly coming from schools. Monday, the commissioner said they've learned of another suspected case. They are now looking into that child's school, but they are not ready to publicly reveal which school that is.
