The CDC drowning prevention program employed three full-time experts and cost about $2 million per year. Staff were placed on administrative leave in April and were fired in August, and the program is slated for elimination in the proposed 2026 budget. The CDC estimates about 4,000 drownings annually, with unintentional drownings costing almost $50 billion per year and individual drowning-related losses up to $4 million. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4. About 55 million Americans do not know how to swim, with higher rates among African American, Hispanic, Native American populations, children with disabilities, and children with autism. The program funded swim lessons for high-risk children and studied effective safety techniques; those activities have stopped.
The program employed three full-time experts and cost about $2 million per year to fund. For context, the cost of a single drowning, according to the CDC, can total $4 million when it comes to medical and societal losses. Overall, the CDC estimates that unintentional drownings cost the United States almost $50 billion per year. Also, according to the CDC, every year in the United States, about 4,000 people drown,
An estimated 55 million Americans do not know how to swim, and drowning deaths are significantly more common for marginalized groups like African American, Hispanic, and Native American populations, as well as kids with disabilities and kids with autism. The drowning prevention group was created by the CDC during the pandemic, when drowning deaths soared. The group studied which safety techniques worked and which didn't while also funding swim lessons nationally for high-risk kids through partnerships with organizations like the YMCA.
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