D1.1 genotype H5N1

[RonO]

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-cattle-hpai-tech-brief.pdf

The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype H5N1
influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.

Genotype D1.1 is a reassorted virus (recombinant between multiple viral
strains). It is derived from the Asian H5N1, but has recombined with
North American influenza virus. It continues to have the H5N1 antigen
designation, but the N1 gene comes from a North American virus. Only
the HA, PB1, M and NS segments (chromosomes or genes) come from the
Asian H5N1 virus. This likely means that the currently available H5N1
vaccine that they have stockpiled will be ineffective against this virus.

The antigen designations are pretty worthless in describing antibody
binding ability. They have maintained the designations for decades and
even though they are antigen type designations that are still used to
describe the virus the sequences of the various genotypes and clades
within subtypes can be so different that they do not have to have
antibody crossreactivity. The H5 just indicates that it is the same
lineage, descended from, the first H5 designated antigen sequence of the
HA gene. The Missouri patient infected with the dairy virus had enough
mutations in the H5 gene to decrease antibody binding by around 100 fold
and they needed to make a synthetic H5 sequence with those amino acid
substitutions in it to test for H5 antibodies in the patients blood, and
still 2 out of the 3 antibody tests failed when they knew that the
patient had been infected.

They really do need to start making up a vaccine for the D1.1 genotype
because 2 patients infected that were in critical condition (one died)
both had developed the mutations needed to make the virus more infective
to humans. I would likely make sure that their viral sequences where in
the vaccine.

It turns out that they are finding a change that allows the D1.1 virus
to more efficiently replicate in mammals among the dairy herds in
Nevada. This mutation in the PB2 gene has not been found in wild
strains of the virus. It turns out that poultry workers infected with
H5N1 in Washington were infected with D1.1 and had respiratory symptoms,
but, had only mild symptoms. This means that the dairies could be being
infected by infected poultry farms due to shared workers between farms,
and would indicate how it has spread in Nevada if there wasn't an
exchange of cattle. Like the B3.13 genotype the D1.1 may use dairy
workers as a vector for transmission to other farms.

They do need to start testing all the dairy workers, and get them
treated as quickly as possible. They need to keep the mutations that
put the two patients into critical condition from occurring again. They
already know that the mutations have occurred twice.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-cattle-hpai-tech-
brief.pdf
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype H5N1
influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.
Genotype D1.1 is a reassorted virus (recombinant between multiple viral
strains).  It is derived from the Asian H5N1, but has recombined with
North American influenza virus.  It continues to have the H5N1 antigen
designation, but the N1 gene comes from a North American virus.  Only
the HA, PB1, M and NS segments (chromosomes or genes) come from the
Asian H5N1 virus.  This likely means that the currently available H5N1
vaccine that they have stockpiled will be ineffective against this virus.
The antigen designations are pretty worthless in describing antibody
binding ability.  They have maintained the designations for decades and
even though they are antigen type designations that are still used to
describe the virus the sequences of the various genotypes and clades
within subtypes can be so different that they do not have to have
antibody crossreactivity.  The H5 just indicates that it is the same
lineage, descended from, the first H5 designated antigen sequence of the
HA gene.  The Missouri patient infected with the dairy virus had enough
mutations in the H5 gene to decrease antibody binding by around 100 fold
and they needed to make a synthetic H5 sequence with those amino acid
substitutions in it to test for H5 antibodies in the patients blood, and
still 2 out of the 3 antibody tests failed when they knew that the
patient had been infected.
They really do need to start making up a vaccine for the D1.1 genotype
because 2 patients infected that were in critical condition (one died)
both had developed the mutations needed to make the virus more infective
to humans.  I would likely make sure that their viral sequences where in
the vaccine.
It turns out that they are finding a change that allows the D1.1 virus
to more efficiently replicate in mammals among the dairy herds in
Nevada.  This mutation in the PB2 gene has not been found in wild
strains of the virus.  It turns out that poultry workers infected with
H5N1 in Washington were infected with D1.1 and had respiratory symptoms,
but, had only mild symptoms.  This means that the dairies could be being
infected by infected poultry farms due to shared workers between farms,
and would indicate how it has spread in Nevada if there wasn't an
exchange of cattle.  Like the B3.13 genotype the D1.1 may use dairy
workers as a vector for transmission to other farms.
They do need to start testing all the dairy workers, and get them
treated as quickly as possible.  They need to keep the mutations that
put the two patients into critical condition from occurring again.  They
already know that the mutations have occurred twice.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/health/bird-flu-variant-nevada-human-case/index.html

This CNN article reviews the D1.1 results. The CDC is still in denial
of what this new genotype means in terms of the possible start of the
next pandemic. The D1.1 virus has already killed one person and left
another in critical condition before recovery. That the CDC is still
claiming that the risk is minimal is crazy. They know that a lot of
dairy workers are likely getting infected by this new virus that work at
the infected dairy farms, but they still refuse to implement dairy
worker testing and treatment of infected workers. This virus mutated
into a form that would better infect humans in the two critical cases.
This means that since the virus is a respiratory infection in those
cases that the needed mutations to start the next pandemic were likely
selected for in the infected tissues of those individuals. It isn't
likely that the required mutations just occurred and took over the
infections of two individuals thousands of miles apart without positive
selection for those mutations during the infection.

The CDC needs to minimize human infections with this virus. The more
humans infected the more chance that these mutations will happen again
and be selected for again. They were lucky enough to contain the
infections in the two known cases, but that would not be guaranteed with
migrant dairy workers reluctant to admit to being infected.

It turns out that some of the Poultry workers infected in Washington
were infected by D1.1 virus and only had mild respiratory symptoms when
they were detected (because they were tested due to the poultry flock
infection). The Nevada dairies did not report symptoms, and a
respiratory infection would not be detected in the milk until the
infection somehow spread to the mammary gland. For the B3.13 genotype
the infection is not respiratory, but it infects the eyes, and mammary
glands of the cattle. It also infects the gut, but nasal swabs are
often negative for both humans and cattle. The D1.1 genotype should be
detectable by nasal swabs before it is detected in the milk.

They need to be testing cattle with respiratory symptoms at all Nevada
dairies because the virus has already spread to, at least, 4 dairies.
The infection may have spread from one dairy because the infected
dairies have a mutation that improves the ability of the virus to
replicate in mammals. This mutation is not found among the wild birds
in Nevada. This likely means that this version of D1.1 has spread via
the same transmission vectors as the B3.13 dairy virus. Cattle and
humans are taking this virus to other farms. Just like all the other
states most dairy workers work at more than one dairy farm and some of
them also work at poultry farms. It may be that the D1.1 virus came
from an infected poultry farm via a dairy worker that worked at both the
poultry farm and a dairy. Infected people and cattle have been taking
the 3.13 virus to other farms, and the same thing is likely occurring
with the D1.1 genotype.

The USDA and CDC have been in denial of dairy worker transmission from
the start of the dairy epidemic and that denial has to end, and dairy
workers have to be subjected to contact tracing and testing in order to
determine how the virus has spread among the Nevada dairies. How did
the same mutation get to all 4 dairies? If they start contact tracing
like they did in California they might find more Nevada herds infected.

They need to identify the infected herds as quickly as possible and get
the workers tested and infected workers placed on anti-virals as quickly
as possible to prevent the next pandemic. They might also issue
anti-virals to all the workers at the infected dairies working with the
sick cows. They know for an absolute fact that a significant percentage
of the workers will get infected working with infected poultry and
cattle. They should be acting on that fact.

Ron Okimoto

[JTEM]

Post by RonO
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype H5N1
influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.

Relax. You'll get your 17 jabs and then you will be 100% protected from
the disease under all circumstances, with the sole exception of standing
less than 6 feet from anyone not wearing a mask, whether they'd also had
their 17 jabs or not.

It's "Science!"

Enjoy your weeds & maggot sausage, serf!

[RonO]

Post by JTEM

Post by RonO
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype
H5N1 influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.

Relax. You'll get your 17 jabs and then you will be 100% protected from
the disease under all circumstances, with the sole exception of standing
less than 6 feet from anyone not wearing a mask, whether they'd also had
their 17 jabs or not.
It's "Science!"
Enjoy your weeds & maggot sausage, serf!

As sad as you usually are, you should reflect on the fact that wearing a
mask and social distancing prevented influenza infections. The flu
season never started with those measures in place and 10s of thousands
of lives were saved from dying of influenza. Masking was not as
effective against covid, but it demonstrated that if we implemented
those measures that we could likely prevent most of the annual influenza
mortality.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu-burden/php/about/index.html

If you exclude the covid year 2021-2022 the US averaged 36,000 deaths
annually to influenza over the last decade, but in 2021-2022 there were
only 6,300 influenza deaths. This was observed in other countries that
adopted masking and social distancing. This means that we could save a
lot of people if we became a masking and social distancing society.
We'd likely have to revamp our education system too because decreasing
the rate that kids brought the flu home from school to kill grandma was
also probably a factor at this time. Schools are very effective
transmission systems.

The point is that what we did to try to control covid worked against
influenza.

Unfortunately, there is no effective vaccine for the D1.1 genotype. Look
at the current flu vaccine efficacy. They were lucky and included 3 of
the most common flu virus now infecting people, but we still have child
and adult mortality issues and the season is just getting started. The
vaccine doesn't seem to be anymore effective than last years.

Ron Okimoto

[JTEM]

Post by RonO
As sad as you usually are, you should reflect on the fact that wearing a
mask and social distancing prevented influenza infections.

Then why the lockdowns and vaccine mandates?

Your narrative is NOT internally consistent.

You have it too good. Our beloved self-appointed elite are fixing
that problem. End of story.

[RonO]

Post by JTEM

Post by RonO
As sad as you usually are, you should reflect on the fact that wearing
a mask and social distancing prevented influenza infections.

Then why the lockdowns and vaccine mandates?
Your narrative is NOT internally consistent.
You have it too good. Our beloved self-appointed elite are fixing
that problem. End of story.

Vaccine mandates came after the influenza season was prevented from
doing it's usual damage. Covid lockdowns were minimal and were not
employed effectively, and there was never any need for influenza
lockdowns. By the time we had covid vaccines and there were covid
vaccination mandates from some employers, the public had had enough of
masking and social distancing, and they began to be disregarded.
Influenza came back the next season.

Ron Okimoto

[JTEM]

Post by RonO
Covid lockdowns were minimal

Not sure what planet you're on but on this one, the earth,
they were excessive.

[RonO]

Post by JTEM

Post by RonO
Covid lockdowns were minimal

Not sure what planet you're on but on this one, the earth,
they were excessive.

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet. The US never had
lockdowns like China. What happened was sparse and ineffective because
it was never universally accepted, and the virus was free to spread
where it was not implemented.

Ron Okimoto

[JTEM]

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

[RonO]

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.

China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Ron Okimoto

[Bob Casanova]

On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[RonO]

Post by Bob Casanova
On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

They existed, but not in any form that would be effective. If your
neighbors were not doing it, it failed, and as you point out they were
also ineffective because there was no testing and isolation program like
they had in China, and if everyone wasn't doing it it was a waste of
time. The US never bothered to identify all the infected. Where in the
US were they excessive? States like Texas and Oklahoma opted to do
pretty much nothing.

China was initially effective using lockdowns. They forced whole cities
to stay home and wait to be tested, and they were able to test millions
in just a couple weeks. They eradicated the infection in China for a
period of time. When the virus was reintroduced, they began to have
compliance issues because it was repeatedly reintroduced, and the
strategy failed. My guess is that they needed to irradiate all the
imports as well as implement their quarantine in order to keep the virus
from coming back because the rest of the world failed to control the
virus. That never happened in the US. Nothing even close happened in
the US.

Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova
The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[Bob Casanova]

On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:22:22 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

They existed, but not in any form that would be effective.

I said nothing about effectiveness, only that they existed.

Post by RonO
If your
neighbors were not doing it, it failed, and as you point out they were
also ineffective because there was no testing and isolation program like
they had in China, and if everyone wasn't doing it it was a waste of
time. The US never bothered to identify all the infected. Where in the
US were they excessive? States like Texas and Oklahoma opted to do
pretty much nothing.

California, for one. Of course, the restrictions didn't
apply to the higher officials such as Newsom, who, from the
video evidence (mostly surreptitious or assumed to be
private), continued to operate pretty much as usual.

Post by RonO
China was initially effective using lockdowns. They forced whole cities
to stay home and wait to be tested, and they were able to test millions
in just a couple weeks. They eradicated the infection in China for a
period of time. When the virus was reintroduced, they began to have
compliance issues because it was repeatedly reintroduced, and the
strategy failed. My guess is that they needed to irradiate all the
imports as well as implement their quarantine in order to keep the virus
from coming back because the rest of the world failed to control the
virus. That never happened in the US. Nothing even close happened in
the US.
Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova
The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[RonO]

Post by Bob Casanova
On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:22:22 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

They existed, but not in any form that would be effective.

I said nothing about effectiveness, only that they existed.

Post by RonO
If your
neighbors were not doing it, it failed, and as you point out they were
also ineffective because there was no testing and isolation program like
they had in China, and if everyone wasn't doing it it was a waste of
time. The US never bothered to identify all the infected. Where in the
US were they excessive? States like Texas and Oklahoma opted to do
pretty much nothing.

California, for one. Of course, the restrictions didn't
apply to the higher officials such as Newsom, who, from the
video evidence (mostly surreptitious or assumed to be
private), continued to operate pretty much as usual.

California efforts were a joke. I've seen YouTube videos demonstrating
that nothing really was ever implemented in any effective manner, and
pretty much none of the neighboring states did much. They could
implement social distancing and outdoor dining that a lot of other
states could not do very well due to outdoor temperatures, but you can
likely find videos of customer limits in bars being ignored and such.
It wasn't much of any type of lock down for any significant period of
time. They did set up on line education systems, and a lot of kids were
taught at home by their usual teachers. They did things, but
enforcement was problematic, and likely what they did was never
considered to be any type of excessive burden.

Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova

Post by RonO
China was initially effective using lockdowns. They forced whole cities
to stay home and wait to be tested, and they were able to test millions
in just a couple weeks. They eradicated the infection in China for a
period of time. When the virus was reintroduced, they began to have
compliance issues because it was repeatedly reintroduced, and the
strategy failed. My guess is that they needed to irradiate all the
imports as well as implement their quarantine in order to keep the virus
from coming back because the rest of the world failed to control the
virus. That never happened in the US. Nothing even close happened in
the US.
Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova
The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[Bob Casanova]

On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:44:49 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:22:22 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

They existed, but not in any form that would be effective.

I said nothing about effectiveness, only that they existed.

Post by RonO
If your
neighbors were not doing it, it failed, and as you point out they were
also ineffective because there was no testing and isolation program like
they had in China, and if everyone wasn't doing it it was a waste of
time. The US never bothered to identify all the infected. Where in the
US were they excessive? States like Texas and Oklahoma opted to do
pretty much nothing.

California, for one. Of course, the restrictions didn't
apply to the higher officials such as Newsom, who, from the
video evidence (mostly surreptitious or assumed to be
private), continued to operate pretty much as usual.

California efforts were a joke. I've seen YouTube videos demonstrating
that nothing really was ever implemented in any effective manner, and
pretty much none of the neighboring states did much. They could
implement social distancing and outdoor dining that a lot of other
states could not do very well due to outdoor temperatures, but you can
likely find videos of customer limits in bars being ignored and such.
It wasn't much of any type of lock down for any significant period of
time. They did set up on line education systems, and a lot of kids were
taught at home by their usual teachers. They did things, but
enforcement was problematic, and likely what they did was never
considered to be any type of excessive burden.

So we agree: Lockdowns were implemented, but they were
ineffective even though they caused significant personal and
economic problems for large numbers of people.

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova

Post by RonO
China was initially effective using lockdowns. They forced whole cities
to stay home and wait to be tested, and they were able to test millions
in just a couple weeks. They eradicated the infection in China for a
period of time. When the virus was reintroduced, they began to have
compliance issues because it was repeatedly reintroduced, and the
strategy failed. My guess is that they needed to irradiate all the
imports as well as implement their quarantine in order to keep the virus
from coming back because the rest of the world failed to control the
virus. That never happened in the US. Nothing even close happened in
the US.
Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova
The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[RonO]

Post by Bob Casanova
On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:44:49 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:22:22 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

They existed, but not in any form that would be effective.

I said nothing about effectiveness, only that they existed.

Post by RonO
If your
neighbors were not doing it, it failed, and as you point out they were
also ineffective because there was no testing and isolation program like
they had in China, and if everyone wasn't doing it it was a waste of
time. The US never bothered to identify all the infected. Where in the
US were they excessive? States like Texas and Oklahoma opted to do
pretty much nothing.

California, for one. Of course, the restrictions didn't
apply to the higher officials such as Newsom, who, from the
video evidence (mostly surreptitious or assumed to be
private), continued to operate pretty much as usual.

California efforts were a joke. I've seen YouTube videos demonstrating
that nothing really was ever implemented in any effective manner, and
pretty much none of the neighboring states did much. They could
implement social distancing and outdoor dining that a lot of other
states could not do very well due to outdoor temperatures, but you can
likely find videos of customer limits in bars being ignored and such.
It wasn't much of any type of lock down for any significant period of
time. They did set up on line education systems, and a lot of kids were
taught at home by their usual teachers. They did things, but
enforcement was problematic, and likely what they did was never
considered to be any type of excessive burden.

So we agree: Lockdowns were implemented, but they were
ineffective even though they caused significant personal and
economic problems for large numbers of people.

They were never implemented in any effective manner, nor in any way that
was a significant burden to anyone in the US. The contention that was
being rebutted was that lockdowns were excessive and a burden to the
population. That never happened in the US.

Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova

Post by RonO
China was initially effective using lockdowns. They forced whole cities
to stay home and wait to be tested, and they were able to test millions
in just a couple weeks. They eradicated the infection in China for a
period of time. When the virus was reintroduced, they began to have
compliance issues because it was repeatedly reintroduced, and the
strategy failed. My guess is that they needed to irradiate all the
imports as well as implement their quarantine in order to keep the virus
from coming back because the rest of the world failed to control the
virus. That never happened in the US. Nothing even close happened in
the US.
Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova
The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[Bob Casanova]

On Sat, 15 Feb 2025 08:50:55 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:44:49 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:22:22 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova
On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:11:27 -0600, the following appeared

Post by RonO

Post by JTEM

Obviously, it is you that was on another planet.  The US never had
lockdowns like China.  What happened was sparse and ineffective because

There is zero room to argue here. The lockdowns were excessive.
The cost was extreme. The benefit was nil. The whole damn thing
was a foreseeable & foreseen mistake, assuming they weren't
intentionally trying to "Reset" the economy.

What planet were you living on? There never was a centralized plan to
control the infection in the US. Actions like lockdowns were sporadic
and varied from state to state, and were pretty minimal when they were
implemented. Arkansas tried, but neighboring states like Oklahoma
decided not to do it, so nothing much changed in Arkansas due to
boardering states with larger populations not doing much at all.
Testing and contact tracing were never really implemented population
wide, and states were pretty much on their own in terms of trying to get
their people tested. Companies like mine had to implement their own
contact tracing and testing program months after it should have been
started after commercial testing became available. Just recall how long
it was before the Biden administration gave everyone free Covid tests.
nearly a million people (probably more just were not counted) had died
by then.
China tested whole city populations (10s of millions in each group),
isolated infected, and cleared Covid from their country early in the
pandemic, but the virus eventually came back (my guess is that some of
it came in with frozen food processed in other countries). No one else
did that, and the whole world, including China, is still suffering
because of that failure.

Just FYI, there were lockdowns in multiple jurisdictions.
Just because they weren't mandated nationally (which would
be illegal without a Federal emergency declaration) it
doesn't mean they didn't exist.

They existed, but not in any form that would be effective.

I said nothing about effectiveness, only that they existed.

Post by RonO
If your
neighbors were not doing it, it failed, and as you point out they were
also ineffective because there was no testing and isolation program like
they had in China, and if everyone wasn't doing it it was a waste of
time. The US never bothered to identify all the infected. Where in the
US were they excessive? States like Texas and Oklahoma opted to do
pretty much nothing.

California, for one. Of course, the restrictions didn't
apply to the higher officials such as Newsom, who, from the
video evidence (mostly surreptitious or assumed to be
private), continued to operate pretty much as usual.

California efforts were a joke. I've seen YouTube videos demonstrating
that nothing really was ever implemented in any effective manner, and
pretty much none of the neighboring states did much. They could
implement social distancing and outdoor dining that a lot of other
states could not do very well due to outdoor temperatures, but you can
likely find videos of customer limits in bars being ignored and such.
It wasn't much of any type of lock down for any significant period of
time. They did set up on line education systems, and a lot of kids were
taught at home by their usual teachers. They did things, but
enforcement was problematic, and likely what they did was never
considered to be any type of excessive burden.

So we agree: Lockdowns were implemented, but they were
ineffective even though they caused significant personal and
economic problems for large numbers of people.

They were never implemented in any effective manner, nor in any way that
was a significant burden to anyone in the US. The contention that was
being rebutted was that lockdowns were excessive and a burden to the
population. That never happened in the US.

The fact that they were in your opinion ineffective (an
opinion I happen to share) has nothing to do with whether
they were a burden OR excessive, but if you believe that an
ineffective process cannot be excessive and burdensome
there's really nothing more to discuss.

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova

Post by RonO

Post by Bob Casanova

Post by RonO
China was initially effective using lockdowns. They forced whole cities
to stay home and wait to be tested, and they were able to test millions
in just a couple weeks. They eradicated the infection in China for a
period of time. When the virus was reintroduced, they began to have
compliance issues because it was repeatedly reintroduced, and the
strategy failed. My guess is that they needed to irradiate all the
imports as well as implement their quarantine in order to keep the virus
from coming back because the rest of the world failed to control the
virus. That never happened in the US. Nothing even close happened in
the US.
Ron Okimoto

Post by Bob Casanova
The lockdowns were indeed excessive in some venues (and
essentially ineffective; see the Swedish data for contrast)
and the costs were indeed extreme, in both personal and
economic terms.

[RonO]

Post by RonO
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-cattle-hpai-tech-
brief.pdf
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype H5N1
influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.
Genotype D1.1 is a reassorted virus (recombinant between multiple viral
strains).  It is derived from the Asian H5N1, but has recombined with
North American influenza virus.  It continues to have the H5N1 antigen
designation, but the N1 gene comes from a North American virus.  Only
the HA, PB1, M and NS segments (chromosomes or genes) come from the
Asian H5N1 virus.  This likely means that the currently available H5N1
vaccine that they have stockpiled will be ineffective against this virus.
The antigen designations are pretty worthless in describing antibody
binding ability.  They have maintained the designations for decades and
even though they are antigen type designations that are still used to
describe the virus the sequences of the various genotypes and clades
within subtypes can be so different that they do not have to have
antibody crossreactivity.  The H5 just indicates that it is the same
lineage, descended from, the first H5 designated antigen sequence of the
HA gene.  The Missouri patient infected with the dairy virus had enough
mutations in the H5 gene to decrease antibody binding by around 100 fold
and they needed to make a synthetic H5 sequence with those amino acid
substitutions in it to test for H5 antibodies in the patients blood, and
still 2 out of the 3 antibody tests failed when they knew that the
patient had been infected.
They really do need to start making up a vaccine for the D1.1 genotype
because 2 patients infected that were in critical condition (one died)
both had developed the mutations needed to make the virus more infective
to humans.  I would likely make sure that their viral sequences where in
the vaccine.
It turns out that they are finding a change that allows the D1.1 virus
to more efficiently replicate in mammals among the dairy herds in
Nevada.  This mutation in the PB2 gene has not been found in wild
strains of the virus.  It turns out that poultry workers infected with
H5N1 in Washington were infected with D1.1 and had respiratory symptoms,
but, had only mild symptoms.  This means that the dairies could be being
infected by infected poultry farms due to shared workers between farms,
and would indicate how it has spread in Nevada if there wasn't an
exchange of cattle.  Like the B3.13 genotype the D1.1 may use dairy
workers as a vector for transmission to other farms.
They do need to start testing all the dairy workers, and get them
treated as quickly as possible.  They need to keep the mutations that
put the two patients into critical condition from occurring again.  They
already know that the mutations have occurred twice.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/nevada-reports-h5n1-dairy-worker-usda-fleshes-out-d11-sequencing-affected-herds

The first Dairy worker had been detected as being infected with H5N1.
They do not note the genotype, but the Nevada dairies are infected with
the D1.1 virus. The worker's eyes were infected like with genotype B3.13.

They do need to start testing all dairy workers at all farms known to be
infected with the D1.1 virus, but they are not doing that. They even
knew that the cattle were not showing symptoms until after the virus was
detected in their milk. There is no reason to not test all the dairy
workers when they already know that 1/4 of those positive for H5
antibodies did not show symptoms (2 out of 8 from a "random" sample with
respect to whether they showed symptoms or not). They need to get the
infected workers on anti virals as quickly as possible.

This makes it more likely that infected dairy workers helped take the
virus to other farms. If they do not restrict dairy worker movements
they will end up like California with nearly all their dairies infected.
They obviously cannot just restrict cattle movements.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO

Post by RonO
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-cattle-hpai-tech-
brief.pdf
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype
H5N1 influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.
Genotype D1.1 is a reassorted virus (recombinant between multiple
viral strains).  It is derived from the Asian H5N1, but has recombined
with North American influenza virus.  It continues to have the H5N1
antigen designation, but the N1 gene comes from a North American
virus.  Only the HA, PB1, M and NS segments (chromosomes or genes)
come from the Asian H5N1 virus.  This likely means that the currently
available H5N1 vaccine that they have stockpiled will be ineffective
against this virus.
The antigen designations are pretty worthless in describing antibody
binding ability.  They have maintained the designations for decades
and even though they are antigen type designations that are still used
to describe the virus the sequences of the various genotypes and
clades within subtypes can be so different that they do not have to
have antibody crossreactivity.  The H5 just indicates that it is the
same lineage, descended from, the first H5 designated antigen sequence
of the HA gene.  The Missouri patient infected with the dairy virus
had enough mutations in the H5 gene to decrease antibody binding by
around 100 fold and they needed to make a synthetic H5 sequence with
those amino acid substitutions in it to test for H5 antibodies in the
patients blood, and still 2 out of the 3 antibody tests failed when
they knew that the patient had been infected.
They really do need to start making up a vaccine for the D1.1 genotype
because 2 patients infected that were in critical condition (one died)
both had developed the mutations needed to make the virus more
infective to humans.  I would likely make sure that their viral
sequences where in the vaccine.
It turns out that they are finding a change that allows the D1.1 virus
to more efficiently replicate in mammals among the dairy herds in
Nevada.  This mutation in the PB2 gene has not been found in wild
strains of the virus.  It turns out that poultry workers infected with
H5N1 in Washington were infected with D1.1 and had respiratory
symptoms, but, had only mild symptoms.  This means that the dairies
could be being infected by infected poultry farms due to shared
workers between farms, and would indicate how it has spread in Nevada
if there wasn't an exchange of cattle.  Like the B3.13 genotype the
D1.1 may use dairy workers as a vector for transmission to other farms.
They do need to start testing all the dairy workers, and get them
treated as quickly as possible.  They need to keep the mutations that
put the two patients into critical condition from occurring again.
They already know that the mutations have occurred twice.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/nevada-reports-h5n1-dairy-worker-usda-
fleshes-out-d11-sequencing-affected-herds
The first Dairy worker had been detected as being infected with H5N1.
They do not note the genotype, but the Nevada dairies are infected with
the D1.1 virus.  The worker's eyes were infected like with genotype B3.13.
They do need to start testing all dairy workers at all farms known to be
infected with the D1.1 virus, but they are not doing that.  They even
knew that the cattle were not showing symptoms until after the virus was
detected in their milk.  There is no reason to not test all the dairy
workers when they already know that 1/4 of those positive for H5
antibodies did not show symptoms (2 out of 8 from a "random" sample with
respect to whether they showed symptoms or not).  They need to get the
infected workers on anti virals as quickly as possible.
This makes it more likely that infected dairy workers helped take the
virus to other farms.  If they do not restrict dairy worker movements
they will end up like California with nearly all their dairies infected.
 They obviously cannot just restrict cattle movements.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock

The USDA just posted 2 more herds in Nevada as being infected for a
total of 6 recent herds (7 total with the confirmed herd in early Dec).

I would note that Texas also had a positive herd in December and that is
likely the second round of infections because since March 2024 likely
every herd in Texas was infected, but was just not tested. California
and Colorado indicates that the virus should have burned through the
entire state in less than 6 months. They should have done a
phylogenetic analysis to determine where that Texas virus came from. It
wouldn't surprise me if it came from California.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO

Post by RonO

Post by RonO
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-cattle-hpai-
tech- brief.pdf
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype
H5N1 influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.
Genotype D1.1 is a reassorted virus (recombinant between multiple
viral strains).  It is derived from the Asian H5N1, but has
recombined with North American influenza virus.  It continues to have
the H5N1 antigen designation, but the N1 gene comes from a North
American virus.  Only the HA, PB1, M and NS segments (chromosomes or
genes) come from the Asian H5N1 virus.  This likely means that the
currently available H5N1 vaccine that they have stockpiled will be
ineffective against this virus.
The antigen designations are pretty worthless in describing antibody
binding ability.  They have maintained the designations for decades
and even though they are antigen type designations that are still
used to describe the virus the sequences of the various genotypes and
clades within subtypes can be so different that they do not have to
have antibody crossreactivity.  The H5 just indicates that it is the
same lineage, descended from, the first H5 designated antigen
sequence of the HA gene.  The Missouri patient infected with the
dairy virus had enough mutations in the H5 gene to decrease antibody
binding by around 100 fold and they needed to make a synthetic H5
sequence with those amino acid substitutions in it to test for H5
antibodies in the patients blood, and still 2 out of the 3 antibody
tests failed when they knew that the patient had been infected.
They really do need to start making up a vaccine for the D1.1
genotype because 2 patients infected that were in critical condition
(one died) both had developed the mutations needed to make the virus
more infective to humans.  I would likely make sure that their viral
sequences where in the vaccine.
It turns out that they are finding a change that allows the D1.1
virus to more efficiently replicate in mammals among the dairy herds
in Nevada.  This mutation in the PB2 gene has not been found in wild
strains of the virus.  It turns out that poultry workers infected
with H5N1 in Washington were infected with D1.1 and had respiratory
symptoms, but, had only mild symptoms.  This means that the dairies
could be being infected by infected poultry farms due to shared
workers between farms, and would indicate how it has spread in Nevada
if there wasn't an exchange of cattle.  Like the B3.13 genotype the
D1.1 may use dairy workers as a vector for transmission to other farms.
They do need to start testing all the dairy workers, and get them
treated as quickly as possible.  They need to keep the mutations that
put the two patients into critical condition from occurring again.
They already know that the mutations have occurred twice.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/nevada-reports-h5n1-dairy-worker-usda-
fleshes-out-d11-sequencing-affected-herds
The first Dairy worker had been detected as being infected with H5N1.
They do not note the genotype, but the Nevada dairies are infected
with the D1.1 virus.  The worker's eyes were infected like with
genotype B3.13.
They do need to start testing all dairy workers at all farms known to
be infected with the D1.1 virus, but they are not doing that.  They
even knew that the cattle were not showing symptoms until after the
virus was detected in their milk.  There is no reason to not test all
the dairy workers when they already know that 1/4 of those positive
for H5 antibodies did not show symptoms (2 out of 8 from a "random"
sample with respect to whether they showed symptoms or not).  They
need to get the infected workers on anti virals as quickly as possible.
This makes it more likely that infected dairy workers helped take the
virus to other farms.  If they do not restrict dairy worker movements
they will end up like California with nearly all their dairies
infected.   They obviously cannot just restrict cattle movements.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-
influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock
The USDA just posted 2 more herds in Nevada as being infected for a
total of 6 recent herds (7 total with the confirmed herd in early Dec).
I would note that Texas also had a positive herd in December and that is
likely the second round of infections because since March 2024 likely
every herd in Texas was infected, but was just not tested.  California
and Colorado indicates that the virus should have burned through the
entire state in less than 6 months.  They should have done a
phylogenetic analysis to determine where that Texas virus came from.  It
wouldn't surprise me if it came from California.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/avian-flu-strikes-more-poultry-flocks-7-states-and-more-cats

More cats dying, more poultry flocks going down (52 million birds since
Nov. and most of them are commercial layers), 5 more dairy herds in
California added to the total (967 total herds nationally admitted to
and that have been tested). Still no action on the CDC's claim that
they were going to start testing dairy workers over 3 months ago.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO

Post by RonO

Post by RonO

Post by RonO
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-cattle-hpai-
tech- brief.pdf
The USDA has released their sequence results for the D1.1 genotype
H5N1 influenza that has infected dairy cattle in Nevada.
Genotype D1.1 is a reassorted virus (recombinant between multiple
viral strains).  It is derived from the Asian H5N1, but has
recombined with North American influenza virus.  It continues to
have the H5N1 antigen designation, but the N1 gene comes from a
North American virus.  Only the HA, PB1, M and NS segments
(chromosomes or genes) come from the Asian H5N1 virus.  This likely
means that the currently available H5N1 vaccine that they have
stockpiled will be ineffective against this virus.
The antigen designations are pretty worthless in describing antibody
binding ability.  They have maintained the designations for decades
and even though they are antigen type designations that are still
used to describe the virus the sequences of the various genotypes
and clades within subtypes can be so different that they do not have
to have antibody crossreactivity.  The H5 just indicates that it is
the same lineage, descended from, the first H5 designated antigen
sequence of the HA gene.  The Missouri patient infected with the
dairy virus had enough mutations in the H5 gene to decrease antibody
binding by around 100 fold and they needed to make a synthetic H5
sequence with those amino acid substitutions in it to test for H5
antibodies in the patients blood, and still 2 out of the 3 antibody
tests failed when they knew that the patient had been infected.
They really do need to start making up a vaccine for the D1.1
genotype because 2 patients infected that were in critical condition
(one died) both had developed the mutations needed to make the virus
more infective to humans.  I would likely make sure that their viral
sequences where in the vaccine.
It turns out that they are finding a change that allows the D1.1
virus to more efficiently replicate in mammals among the dairy herds
in Nevada.  This mutation in the PB2 gene has not been found in wild
strains of the virus.  It turns out that poultry workers infected
with H5N1 in Washington were infected with D1.1 and had respiratory
symptoms, but, had only mild symptoms.  This means that the dairies
could be being infected by infected poultry farms due to shared
workers between farms, and would indicate how it has spread in
Nevada if there wasn't an exchange of cattle.  Like the B3.13
genotype the D1.1 may use dairy workers as a vector for transmission
to other farms.
They do need to start testing all the dairy workers, and get them
treated as quickly as possible.  They need to keep the mutations
that put the two patients into critical condition from occurring
again. They already know that the mutations have occurred twice.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/nevada-reports-h5n1-dairy-worker-usda-
fleshes-out-d11-sequencing-affected-herds
The first Dairy worker had been detected as being infected with H5N1.
They do not note the genotype, but the Nevada dairies are infected
with the D1.1 virus.  The worker's eyes were infected like with
genotype B3.13.
They do need to start testing all dairy workers at all farms known to
be infected with the D1.1 virus, but they are not doing that.  They
even knew that the cattle were not showing symptoms until after the
virus was detected in their milk.  There is no reason to not test all
the dairy workers when they already know that 1/4 of those positive
for H5 antibodies did not show symptoms (2 out of 8 from a "random"
sample with respect to whether they showed symptoms or not).  They
need to get the infected workers on anti virals as quickly as possible.
This makes it more likely that infected dairy workers helped take the
virus to other farms.  If they do not restrict dairy worker movements
they will end up like California with nearly all their dairies
infected.   They obviously cannot just restrict cattle movements.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-
influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock
The USDA just posted 2 more herds in Nevada as being infected for a
total of 6 recent herds (7 total with the confirmed herd in early Dec).
I would note that Texas also had a positive herd in December and that
is likely the second round of infections because since March 2024
likely every herd in Texas was infected, but was just not tested.
California and Colorado indicates that the virus should have burned
through the entire state in less than 6 months.  They should have done
a phylogenetic analysis to determine where that Texas virus came
from.  It wouldn't surprise me if it came from California.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/avian-flu-strikes-
more-poultry-flocks-7-states-and-more-cats
More cats dying, more poultry flocks going down (52 million birds since
Nov. and most of them are commercial layers), 5 more dairy herds in
California added to the total (967 total herds nationally admitted to
and that have been tested).  Still no action on the CDC's claim that
they were going to start testing dairy workers over 3 months ago.
Ron Okimoto

https://ein.az.gov/avian-influenza-found-dairy-cattle-maricopa-county

A D1.1 infection in an Arizona dairy herd has been announced. They
claim that it is unrelated to the Nevada detection of D1.1 infection in
the Nevada herds. The USDA should be doing the epidemiology study, but
such a study hasn't been done since they got the information that they
didn't want to get and found out that states that did not get cattle
from Texas herds were being infected by the virus infecting specific
Texas herds. There has been a refusal to do contact tracing to figure
out what dairy workers took the virus to those states.

It sounds like they aren't going to do the contact tracing to figure out
where the Arizona infection came from when they know that the same virus
is infecting workers and herds in a neighboring state. The stupid
denial is ridiculous at this time. They need to start testing and
contact tracing all the dairy workers in order to keep this virus from
spreading to more herds. Just restricting cattle movements has never
worked. The D1.1 virus has already been shown to be more deadly than
the B3.13 virus, and they should not keep doing the nothing that they
have done for the original dairy epidemic. It looks like a new one is
starting spreading unchecked in dairy herds just like the B3.13 variant
spread due to the inaction of the CDC and USDA in identifying the
infected and keeping them from taking the virus to other farms.

Ron Okimoto