Look, the reason the CDC is tracking this is because avian flu is dangerous. Since 2022, only about two dozen human cases have been recorded worldwide, and over half of those have been fatal. Obviously, the CDC doesn't want to be caught unprepared if the virus makes that dreaded human-to-human transmission evolutionary leap. Via Politico:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is at odds with state officials and the dairy industry over its on-the-ground response to the avian flu outbreak spreading among dairy cows, complicating President Joe Biden’s efforts to track and contain a virus that has the potential to sicken millions of people.
Many farmers don’t want federal health officials on their property. State agriculture officials worry the federal response is sidelining animal health experts at the Agriculture Department, and also that some potential federal interventions threaten to hinder state and local health officials rushing to respond to the outbreaks.
“It’s overreach. They don’t need to do that. They need to back off,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a former rodeo cowboy who is a possible pick to lead the USDA if former President Donald Trump wins the presidential election, said in an interview.
So you know he's qualified!
Texas has not invited the CDC to conduct epidemiological field studies there, even though its health department is open to the research, because they can't find a dairy farm that's interested in participating.
Remember Trump's plan to keep covid numbers down by not testing for it? That worked out well.
