California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation on Wednesday in response to growing concerns about bird flu cases in the state and across the country.
The emergency declaration comes after more cases of bird flu were discovered in dairy cows in Southern California, the governor’s office said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was also there on Wednesday report the first serious illness in one person due to bird flu from a case in Louisiana.
“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to quickly respond to this outbreak,” Newsom said in a statement.
As health and government officials note, to date, there have been no recorded cases of person-to-person spread of bird flu in California or anywhere else.
Bird flu in humans
In the US, the CDC has so far recorded a total of 61 human cases of bird flu in 16 states – with more than half of those cases, 34, being in California.
Although not linked to any known human case, a California raw dairy farm issued a voluntary recall earlier in December after avian flu was detected in many cases. Still, health officials still have a long time warned against consuming unpasteurized milk due to bacterial problems.
Newsom also noted that California has already made efforts to combat bird flu by working with dairy and poultry companies to minimize farmworker exposure. Many of the confirmed cases of bird flu are linked to workers in the dairy and poultry sectors, Health officials said.
“While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the spread of this virus,” Newsom said in a statement.
As with other emergency proclamations, Newsom noted that the action will free up funding for state and local agencies to respond to the bird flu situation.
California was not the first state to declare a state of emergency due to bird flu. Earlier in 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued an emergency declaration for Weld County due to an outbreak there.
The current bird flu outbreak began in 2022. Since then, officials say more than 100 million birds have been culled by poultry farms to try to stop the spread of the disease.
Is bird flu fatal?
H5N1 bird flu viruses are considered particularly deadly when it comes to human infections, raising concerns among public health leaders.
According to figures from the World Health Organization, there have been more than 860 recorded human infections of bird flu in 19 countries since 2003 – with about 53 percent of those cases resulting in death. No deaths have been reported in the US as part of the recent outbreak.
Common human symptoms of a bird flu infection are similar to the flu. The severity of symptoms can range from none to severe.
