A state of emergency was declared in California on Wednesday to combat bird flu after the virus spread to more than a quarter of all state’s dairies in the last month and infected 34 state residents.
“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” Newsom said.
The virus has swept across the nation’s largest dairy-production state. The state’s agriculture department has found the virus in 645 dairy farms, about half of them in the past 30 days alone.
Meanwhile, federal health officials confirmed the first known severe illness caused by the virus.
State health officials said a person in Louisiana is hospitalized in critical condition with severe respiratory symptoms caused by a bird flu infection. The person, who is over 65 and has underlying medical problems, had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.
Since March, more than 60 bird flu infections in people have been reported in the US, but previous illnesses have been mild, and most have been detected among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows.
Flu experts said the trajectory of the virus in people remains unclear. Still, they urged people who have contact with sick or dead birds to take precautions, including wearing respiratory and eye protection and gloves when handling poultry.
“We may see more cases of severe disease in the U.S. since cases seem to be growing more frequent,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
