The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that it’s working to reverse the firing of agency personnel tasked with the federal response to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

The bird flu crisis in the U.S. is in a troubling new phase as the outbreak intensifies and the Trump administration maintains a pause on some external federal health agency communications.

“Several job categories, including veterinarians, animal health technicians, and other emergency response personnel have been exempted from the recent personnel actions to continue to support the HPAI response and other animal health priorities,” the USDA said in an emailed statement Tuesday evening.