why the radio silence about the recent, Central Texas, VA layoffs?

It was reported that there was a "small number" of probationary employees laid off in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Waco and Temple. I've scoured Reddit and the internet and there aren't many details other than the initial headline and the 11 VA clinics and hospitals that these impacted. Of course the VA responded with their usual BS that "operations will not be affected"....sure! How many probationary employees were laid off? What was the justification for the layoffs? Were they bargaining unit workers? So many questions but what I really want to know is, was this a litmus test to see the public response and what type of pushback there will be before instituting more layoffs on a mass scale?