The Trump administration terminated the federal advisory committee, which issued guidelines on preventing the spread of infection in medical facilities.

The Healthcare Infection Control Practice Advisory Committee (HICPAC) develops national standards for hand washing, mask wearing and isolation of patients that most U.S. hospitals follow.

Four committee members said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention terminated news about HICPAC to members on Friday.

A letter from NBC News Review - Members said a letter from the CDC after a virtual meeting stated that the termination came into effect one month ago, March 31. According to the letter, the termination is consistent with President Donald Trump’s executive order, calling for a reduction in the federal labor force.

On March 26, four professional societies previously wrote to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the HHS did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment Tuesday.

Several of the committee’s web pages are archived, meaning they can still be viewed online but no longer updated.

Now, some members say they are worried that their guidelines will freeze in time and cannot develop with new scientific research or the spread of drug-resistant organisms, which is particularly threatening to hospitals.

“At some point, when things need to change, the guide may not change, and then people will fly in the pants’ position,” HICPAC member Connie Steed, former president of the Association of Infection Control and Epidemiology Professionals since 2023.

Dr. Anurag Malani, a researcher at the American Society of Infectious Diseases, joined HICPAC in January, said the committee is close to new guidelines for ending airborne pathogens. No updated guidelines since 2007 include controversial recommendations that will allow surgical masks to replace N95 respirators to prevent the spread of certain pathogens.

“There is really a lot of important material out there, and I think a lot of the lessons learned from vids helped shape these guidelines and put us in a better place than before the pandemic,” Malani said.

Jane Thomason, chief hygienist at the National Naturals United, a registered nurse association that criticized the new mask proposal, regretted the committee's losses. HIPAC appointed Thomason to a working group last year.

"While we have significant concerns about HICPAC's makeup and proposed guidance, the commission's termination eliminates important public transparency," Thomason said in a statement Tuesday. "Without HICPAC's public meeting, there will be no more public visits to the process to draft CDC's infection guidelines on the health care environment. This further undermines the safety of patients, nurses and other health care workers."

According to a CDC letter Friday, HICPAC has made 540 recommendations to the agency since more than 30 years ago, 90% of which have been fully implemented.

Malani said the recommendations continued to keep infection control measures consistent across the country.

“You want to avoid seeing state and local health departments trying to figure this out on their own,” he said.