Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared a state of emergency after a deadly bird flu outbreak hit a poultry farm in Weld County, affecting 1.8 million chickens. The virus also infected a dairy farm worker, though he recovered with mild symptoms. Officials assure the public that the risk to humans is low but warn those in contact with sick animals to take precautions. Meanwhile, the bird flu continues to spread, impacting several dairy herds in Colorado and Michigan. The situation has prompted urgent measures to control the outbreak and protect both livestock and people.

Following the recent announcement that 1.8 million chickens in northeastern Weld County have contracted highly dangerous avian flu, Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared an emergency disaster in his state.

According to a statement from his office released on July 8, the governor “verbally” proclaimed a catastrophe following “an avian flu outbreak in a commercial poultry facility in Weld County.” The facility affected by the outbreak was not named by Mr. Polis’s office.

Colorado may “take all necessary and appropriate state actions to assist with response, recovery, and mitigation efforts” in accordance with the declaration, which gives it the authority to declare an emergency reports Jack Phillips from The Epoch Times.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture announced on July 8 that 1.78 million hens had been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza.

In a statement released on July 3, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced that a dairy farm worker in northern Colorado had contracted the H5N1 bird flu and had come into close contact with infected cattle. His lone symptom, which the agency defined as light, was conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye.

“He has recovered. This case is an employee at a dairy farm in northeast Colorado who had direct exposure to dairy cattle infected with avian flu. To protect patient privacy, additional details are not being provided,” the agency said last week in a statement.

It’s unclear whether the contaminated farm worker in Weld County was connected to the contaminated hens. State officials stated that although the virus is spreading among animals, there is still little risk of bird flu for Colorado citizens.

According to a statement from state epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy, the virus is “not adapted to spread from person to person.”

“Right now, the most important thing to know is that people who have regular exposure to infected animals are at increased risk of infection and should take precautions when they have contact with sick animals,” she said.

It was urged that people not handle dead or sick animals. When required, individuals must put on protective clothing such as gloves, an N95 respirator mask, and eye protection.

Approximately twenty-two commercial dairy herds in Colorado have been affected by the H5N1 virus linked to the instances during the last month or so, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports. Throughout 2023, Colorado did not have any occurrences of avian influenza; nevertheless, government data from 2022 indicates that the virus affected eight commercial chicken flocks.

Officials report that in 2022, a human H5N1 case was identified in Colorado in a person who had come into contact with infected birds.

Three additional dairy workers have contracted the virus thus far in 2024; two cases were reported in Michigan in May and one in Texas in April. Federal health officials said that two had conjunctivitis and one had a cough and eye pain with a runny discharge.

Michigan Reports Increase in Cases

Meanwhile, on July 9, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that a second dairy herd in Gratiot County, which is in the middle of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, had tested positive for avian influenza. Officials say that 26 herds have been impacted thus far.

The instance was identified through testing at the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, which will forward the samples to the USDA for verification.

In addition to other precautions being taken, the state agency advised farms not to share equipment with other farms to reduce the danger of the virus spreading.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement late last month that recent research verified that “pasteurization is effective at inactivating” the H5N1 avian flu virus, which is occasionally detected in milk and other dairy products.

The most widely used pasteurization time and temperature standards were found to be efficient at inactivating the virus, according to the FDA’s investigation.

The FDA said, “The virus was completely inactivated in each of the total of nine repeated experiments.”

Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that McDonald’s in Australia has reduced its breakfast hours by 90 minutes due to a severe egg shortage caused by bird flu outbreaks across several states.