Minnesota public health worker Amy Saupe, who is being laid off because of federal cuts, holds a sign at a demonstration in St. Paul on Thursday. (Mike Moen)

Minnesota officials have launched a new online tool detailing how the state is being affected by federal cuts.

Public health workers keeping an eye on things such as foodborne illnesses have said they’re losing staff members who monitor those threats.

Roughly 200 state workers marched near the State Capitol on Thursday, highlighting the fallout from the downsizing of federal agencies and spending by the Trump administration.

Minnesota Department of Health senior epidemiologist Amy Saupe said she’s received a layoff notice. She pointed to several recent examples of dedicated public health officials like herself tracking emerging outbreaks that put the public at risk.

“If you remember things like the big Listeria outbreak due to deli meat last year, Boar’s Head deli meat, or things like all the norovirus illnesses and outbreaks we had last winter,” she said, “that’s what I do at the Minnesota Department of Health.”

At Thursday’s demonstration, Saupe said she wasn’t speaking on behalf of the department, but noted the agency relies heavily on federal funding. According to the new dashboard, Minnesota has lost nearly $300 million in grants.

Federal Health and Human Services officials have said recent actions not only save money, but make the organization more responsive to Americans’ concerns, such as chronic diseases.

Legal challenges are still playing out over some of the funding cuts. Saupe observed those court battles and outcries are in the spotlight – which is what public health workers often try to avoid when carrying out their mission.

“And the big thing about that work is so often, when we do it right and we’re doing our jobs well, we’re really invisible,” she said. “People don’t know that we’re here because we’re working so hard to prevent people from getting sick.”

Earlier this month, the state Health Department sent layoff notices to 170 people whose positions were funded by recently terminated federal grants. Nationally, analysts have said if Congress follows through with possible steep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, more than one million jobs would be lost nationwide in health care, food-related industries and other sectors.