California dairy influenza infects 170 herds?

[RonO]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california

This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of dairy
herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources do not
back up this number at this time. The claim of 170 infected herds is
much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.

The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds. It is likely that the majority of infected herds in all
the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected. Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case. The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds undertaken
by the USDA applies only to California at this time.

The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week. These herds were
likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is employing
because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self reported an
infected herd for over a month, and California had tracked contact back
to Idaho.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-
dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of dairy
herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources do not
back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected herds is
much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in all
the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds undertaken
by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds were
likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is employing
because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self reported an
infected herd for over a month, and California had tracked contact back
to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

The mortality is associated with dehydration that they are treating with
electrolytes. This indicates that it is the gut infection symptoms that
seem to be the most deleterious to the cattle. Previous research found
SA α2,3-gal influenza receptors expressed in the lung, mammary gland and
cerebrum of cattle, but they did not look at the gut. Early on the gut
was known to be infected because one of the most debilitating symptoms
in dairy cattle was when the gut shut down and nutrient absorption was
impaired. The feces would get loose and watery. Apparently the
California dairy cows are losing too much water. Diarrhea was one of
the symptoms of the Missouri patient.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-
dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of
dairy herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources do
not back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected herds
is much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in
all the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds
undertaken by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds were
likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is employing
because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self reported an
infected herd for over a month, and California had tracked contact
back to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

The mortality is associated with dehydration that they are treating with
electrolytes.  This indicates that it is the gut infection symptoms that
seem to be the most deleterious to the cattle.  Previous research found
SA α2,3-gal influenza receptors expressed in the lung, mammary gland and
cerebrum of cattle, but they did not look at the gut.  Early on the gut
was known to be infected because one of the most debilitating symptoms
in dairy cattle was when the gut shut down and nutrient absorption was
impaired.  The feces would get loose and watery.  Apparently the
California dairy cows are losing too much water.  Diarrhea was one of
the symptoms of the Missouri patient.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/h5n1-avian-flu-isolate-dairy-worker-transmissible-lethal-animals

I found an article claiming that the USDA had confirmed 41 more cases in
California since the last update on the 24th making the total 178.

More poultry flocks are going down with the dairy virus in California
and also in Oregon. Washington and Oregon have not reported infected
dairy herds, but in all other cases the poultry have been infected by
proximity and likely shared workers from infected dairies. They need to
start looking for infected herds in Washington and Oregon if they want
to try to stop the spread to humans on the West coast.

This article also has the disconcerting news of a human isolate. It was
a Texas isolate from virus cultured from the eye swab of the patient.
It reportedly had the mutation associated with mammal infections, and
was found to be lethal to other mammals and readily transmissible
between animals. The study was published in Nature. It is evidence
that the dairy virus is, and was from the beginning (the Texas patient
was the first known human infected) a potential pandemic virus that
should not have been allowed to propagate for as long as it has.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08254-7

I saw a quote in another news article from a California dairy industry
consultant that he thought that they would find 500 infected dairies in
California by the end of November. This was after the USDA stepped in
to assist the contact tracing program with additional personnel. There
are only 1,300 dairies in California. The article also included the
claim that the milk supply in California was being affected with 10 to
15% mortality among affected, and reduced milk production of the
survivors. Some dairies with over 50% infected cows have their milk
production severely affected, and it will take some time to bring the
cows back into production and replace the mortality. These dairies are
huge. The dairy with two infected workers had over 5,000 cows and
another, with dairy workers in common, had over 7,000. There are over
1.7 million dairy cows in California. The worst of it is that the virus
has been constantly infecting and mutating in all the other states that
have been infected. There has been no attempt to identify all the
infected herds, stop the spread to other dairy farms, and make sure that
the workers are protected from infection. Currently workers are not
being protected at all the dairies that have not yet been identified as
being infected. California indicates that the number of unreported
infected herds is substantial.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO

Post by RonO

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-
dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of
dairy herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources
do not back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected
herds is much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in
all the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds
undertaken by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds
were likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is
employing because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self
reported an infected herd for over a month, and California had
tracked contact back to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

The mortality is associated with dehydration that they are treating
with electrolytes.  This indicates that it is the gut infection
symptoms that seem to be the most deleterious to the cattle.  Previous
research found SA α2,3-gal influenza receptors expressed in the lung,
mammary gland and cerebrum of cattle, but they did not look at the
gut.  Early on the gut was known to be infected because one of the
most debilitating symptoms in dairy cattle was when the gut shut down
and nutrient absorption was impaired.  The feces would get loose and
watery.  Apparently the California dairy cows are losing too much
water.  Diarrhea was one of the symptoms of the Missouri patient.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/h5n1-avian-flu-
isolate-dairy-worker-transmissible-lethal-animals
I found an article claiming that the USDA had confirmed 41 more cases in
California since the last update on the 24th making the total 178.
More poultry flocks are going down with the dairy virus in California
and also in Oregon.  Washington and Oregon have not reported infected
dairy herds, but in all other cases the poultry have been infected by
proximity and likely shared workers from infected dairies.  They need to
start looking for infected herds in Washington and Oregon if they want
to try to stop the spread to humans on the West coast.
This article also has the disconcerting news of a human isolate.  It was
a Texas isolate from virus cultured from the eye swab of the patient. It
reportedly had the mutation associated with mammal infections, and was
found to be lethal to other mammals and readily transmissible between
animals.  The study was published in Nature.  It is evidence that the
dairy virus is, and was from the beginning (the Texas patient was the
first known human infected) a potential pandemic virus that should not
have been allowed to propagate for as long as it has.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08254-7
I saw a quote in another news article from a California dairy industry
consultant that he thought that they would find 500 infected dairies in
California by the end of November.  This was after the USDA stepped in
to assist the contact tracing program with additional personnel. There
are only 1,300 dairies in California.  The article also included the
claim that the milk supply in California was being affected with 10 to
15% mortality among affected, and reduced milk production of the
survivors.  Some dairies with over 50% infected cows have their milk
production severely affected, and it will take some time to bring the
cows back into production and replace the mortality.  These dairies are
huge.  The dairy with two infected workers had over 5,000 cows and
another, with dairy workers in common, had over 7,000.  There are over
1.7 million dairy cows in California.  The worst of it is that the virus
has been constantly infecting and mutating in all the other states that
have been infected.  There has been no attempt to identify all the
infected herds, stop the spread to other dairy farms, and make sure that
the workers are protected from infection.  Currently workers are not
being protected at all the dairies that have not yet been identified as
being infected.  California indicates that the number of unreported
infected herds is substantial.
Ron Okimoto

178 confirmed California herds as of the 10/25/2024 update at the USDA
site. The Special IDs indicate that over 200 submissions for
verification. CA208 (confirmed 10/24/2024) was among the samples
confirmed indicating over 200 samples are in the batch currently being
confirmed. California is only submitting positive samples for
verification. Additional samples collected with the USDA assistance
that just started last Thursday have likely not been submitted at this
time. That dairy consultant that estimated 500 positive herds by the
end of November likely knew how many more herds had already been found
to be positive and were waiting for confirmation.

So many herds are infected or are going to be infected that my guess is
that California will start requiring all dairy workers to start using
protective gear even at dairies not yet identified as being infected.
Such a move could decrease the infection of humans, but could also
decrease the spread due to infected dairy workers working on more than
one dairy farm. Protective gear should not be taken between farms. The
virus survives on hard surfaces for at least 24 hours, but only survives
on skin and clothing for less than 30 minutes. The first Texas patient
was shedding live virus from his eyes. The CDC and USDA has known this
from the beginning, but never implemented contact tracing and testing
like California has.

Ron Okimoto

[x]

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of dairy
herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources do not
back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected herds is
much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in all
the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds undertaken
by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds were
likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is employing
because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self reported an
infected herd for over a month, and California had tracked contact back
to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

So.

Pasteurization does NOT destroy the virus?

Avoid drinking milk or eating cheese?

There is now a clearly testable way of showing that this
baby died because it drank that milk?

Got it.

[RonO]

Post by x

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-
dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of
dairy herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources do
not back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected herds
is much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in
all the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds
undertaken by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds were
likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is employing
because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self reported an
infected herd for over a month, and California had tracked contact
back to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

So.
Pasteurization does NOT destroy the virus?

The CDC researchers tested the two most common pasteurization methods.
The most common method of heating milk to 72 degrees C for 15 to 20
seconds failed to reduce the detection of live virus to below detection
level. Infective virus was surviving that method, but the 63 degree C
for 30 minute method did reduce the live virus to below detection
levels. The CDC methods did not fully replicate the pasteurization
methods, but the article recommended that the milk supply should be
tested in a more thorough manner than the FDA had done to claim that the
milk supply was safe. The CDC has never made a big deal about this
research and just published it in their Nov 2024 newsletter. It sounds
like the USDA is going to redo the pasteurization analysis at milk
plants, at least, in California. The claim is that they were going to
do live virus assays at milk plants.

Post by x
Avoid drinking milk or eating cheese?

Cheese is likely safe. The CDC did find that the virus survived in
refrigerated milk for at least 4 days.

Post by x
There is now a clearly testable way of showing that this
baby died because it drank that milk?

How the Missouri patient was infected is not known, but the patient had
the same symptoms exhibited by individuals that had ingested the Asian
H5N1 virus (drank goose blood) so milk cannot be ruled out. The CDC
refuses to acknowledge these symptoms of H5N1 infection that occurred in
Asia. They also refuse to accept that the antibody detection screen
confirmed that the household contact of the Missouri patient that had
the same symptoms had been infected by the dairy virus. They note that
the antibody assay "failed" even for the patient that had been confirmed
to be infected, and do not count the close contact as "confirmed"
infected. Like the infected patient their close contact was only
positive for one of the 3 antibody assays, so that test can be
considered to be a failure and it determined that the Missouri patient
and contact did not mount an effective immune response against the
virus. This just means that the current antibody tests are not reliable
for detecting past infections, so there may not be an effective means of
identifying people that have been infected, but are no longer shedding
virus. Previous research on the Asian H5N1 virus indicated that some
people were not mounting an effective immune response to the virus, and
had not produced neutralizing antibodies though some H5 antibodies could
be detected.

All of this would be less of an issue if the CDC and USDA had started
contact tracing and testing at the very beginning of the dairy epidemic.
California has demonstrated that contact tracing is very effective in
identifying more infected herds, and the USDA is now assisting in that
effort, but only in California. Contact tracing and testing needs to be
done in all states with known infected dairies, or that have dairy virus
infected poultry flocks because it has been known from the start in
Texas that the poultry farms get infected by proximity to infected
dairies (probably because some dairy workers on infected farms also work
on poultry farms).

The more infected dairies that are allowed to remain undetected the more
dairy workers will be infected, and the more poultry flocks and poultry
workers will be infected, but the USDA and CDC refuse to do what needs
to be done to identify the infected herds.

Ron Okimoto

Post by x
Got it.

[x]

Post by RonO

Post by x

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in-
dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of
dairy herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources
do not back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected
herds is much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the
infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in
all the other states were never identified because no one wanted to
determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never
implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased
efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds
undertaken by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds
were likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is
employing because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self
reported an infected herd for over a month, and California had
tracked contact back to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

So.
Pasteurization does NOT destroy the virus?

The CDC researchers tested the two most common pasteurization methods.
The most common method of heating milk to 72 degrees C for 15 to 20
seconds failed to reduce the detection of live virus to below detection
level.  Infective virus was surviving that method, but the 63 degree C
for 30 minute method did reduce the live virus to below detection
levels.  The CDC methods did not fully replicate the pasteurization
methods, but the article recommended that the milk supply should be
tested in a more thorough manner than the FDA had done to claim that the
milk supply was safe.  The CDC has never made a big deal about this
research and just published it in their Nov 2024 newsletter.  It sounds
like the USDA is going to redo the pasteurization analysis at milk
plants, at least, in California.  The claim is that they were going to
do live virus assays at milk plants.

Post by x
Avoid drinking milk or eating cheese?

Cheese is likely safe.  The CDC did find that the virus survived in
refrigerated milk for at least 4 days.

Post by x
There is now a clearly testable way of showing that this
baby died because it drank that milk?

How the Missouri patient was infected is not known, but the patient had
the same symptoms exhibited by individuals that had ingested the Asian
H5N1 virus (drank goose blood) so milk cannot be ruled out.  The CDC
refuses to acknowledge these symptoms of H5N1 infection that occurred in
Asia.  They also refuse to accept that the antibody detection screen
confirmed that the household contact of the Missouri patient that had
the same symptoms had been infected by the dairy virus.  They note that
the antibody assay "failed" even for the patient that had been confirmed
to be infected, and do not count the close contact as "confirmed"
infected.  Like the infected patient their close contact was only
positive for one of the 3 antibody assays, so that test can be
considered to be a failure and it determined that the Missouri patient
and contact did not mount an effective immune response against the
virus.  This just means that the current antibody tests are not reliable
for detecting past infections, so there may not be an effective means of
identifying people that have been infected, but are no longer shedding
virus.  Previous research on the Asian H5N1 virus indicated that some
people were not mounting an effective immune response to the virus, and
had not produced neutralizing antibodies though some H5 antibodies could
be detected.
All of this would be less of an issue if the CDC and USDA had started
contact tracing and testing at the very beginning of the dairy epidemic.
 California has demonstrated that contact tracing is very effective in
identifying more infected herds, and the USDA is now assisting in that
effort, but only in California.  Contact tracing and testing needs to be
done in all states with known infected dairies, or that have dairy virus
infected poultry flocks because it has been known from the start in
Texas that the poultry farms get infected by proximity to infected
dairies (probably because some dairy workers on infected farms also work
on poultry farms).
The more infected dairies that are allowed to remain undetected the more
dairy workers will be infected, and the more poultry flocks and poultry
workers will be infected, but the USDA and CDC refuse to do what needs
to be done to identify the infected herds.
Ron Okimoto

Post by x
Got it.

Are there many flu shots that generate H5N1 antibodies now?

[RonO]

Post by x

Post by RonO

Post by x

Post by RonO
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-
in- dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of
dairy herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources
do not back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected
herds is much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds
confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is
because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify
the infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected
herds in all the other states were never identified because no one
wanted to determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was
never implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The
increased efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected
herds undertaken by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the
identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds
were likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is
employing because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self
reported an infected herd for over a month, and California had
tracked contact back to Idaho.
Ron Okimoto

So.
Pasteurization does NOT destroy the virus?

The CDC researchers tested the two most common pasteurization methods.
The most common method of heating milk to 72 degrees C for 15 to 20
seconds failed to reduce the detection of live virus to below
detection level.  Infective virus was surviving that method, but the
63 degree C for 30 minute method did reduce the live virus to below
detection levels.  The CDC methods did not fully replicate the
pasteurization methods, but the article recommended that the milk
supply should be tested in a more thorough manner than the FDA had
done to claim that the milk supply was safe.  The CDC has never made a
big deal about this research and just published it in their Nov 2024
newsletter.  It sounds like the USDA is going to redo the
pasteurization analysis at milk plants, at least, in California.  The
claim is that they were going to do live virus assays at milk plants.

Post by x
Avoid drinking milk or eating cheese?

Cheese is likely safe.  The CDC did find that the virus survived in
refrigerated milk for at least 4 days.

Post by x
There is now a clearly testable way of showing that this
baby died because it drank that milk?

How the Missouri patient was infected is not known, but the patient
had the same symptoms exhibited by individuals that had ingested the
Asian H5N1 virus (drank goose blood) so milk cannot be ruled out.  The
CDC refuses to acknowledge these symptoms of H5N1 infection that
occurred in Asia.  They also refuse to accept that the antibody
detection screen confirmed that the household contact of the Missouri
patient that had the same symptoms had been infected by the dairy
virus.  They note that the antibody assay "failed" even for the
patient that had been confirmed to be infected, and do not count the
close contact as "confirmed" infected.  Like the infected patient
their close contact was only positive for one of the 3 antibody
assays, so that test can be considered to be a failure and it
determined that the Missouri patient and contact did not mount an
effective immune response against the virus.  This just means that the
current antibody tests are not reliable for detecting past infections,
so there may not be an effective means of identifying people that have
been infected, but are no longer shedding virus.  Previous research on
the Asian H5N1 virus indicated that some people were not mounting an
effective immune response to the virus, and had not produced
neutralizing antibodies though some H5 antibodies could be detected.
All of this would be less of an issue if the CDC and USDA had started
contact tracing and testing at the very beginning of the dairy
epidemic.   California has demonstrated that contact tracing is very
effective in identifying more infected herds, and the USDA is now
assisting in that effort, but only in California.  Contact tracing and
testing needs to be done in all states with known infected dairies, or
that have dairy virus infected poultry flocks because it has been
known from the start in Texas that the poultry farms get infected by
proximity to infected dairies (probably because some dairy workers on
infected farms also work on poultry farms).
The more infected dairies that are allowed to remain undetected the
more dairy workers will be infected, and the more poultry flocks and
poultry workers will be infected, but the USDA and CDC refuse to do
what needs to be done to identify the infected herds.
Ron Okimoto

Post by x
Got it.

Are there many flu shots that generate H5N1 antibodies now?

The US government has produced around a million doses of vaccine made
using an H5N1 virus that they had in culture, but it was not the dairy
virus H5N1 genotype B3.13. Initial tests indicated that it would
neutralized the virus isolated from one of the first dairy workers to be
infected. The CDC's current plan is to detect the influenza infection
after it jumps to better infect humans and try to contain the virus to a
limited region by unspecified containment protocols and vaccinating the
isolated population. It sounds like it will never work. They have to
be able detect the spread of the infection in time for them to be able
to restrict movement out of the region where the infection has been
detected. A populated state like California with two international
airports would have to be shut down and not allow any infected people to
get on any planes or otherwise leave the region. I do not know how they
expect to do that.

The dairy virus has mutated since then, and the two amino acid
substitutions found in the H5 gene of the Missouri patient decreased H5
antibody neutralization enough so that they had to make a synthetic H5
gene with those substitutions, produce antibodies to that sequence in
order to do their antibody assays.

The efficacy of the existing H5N1 vaccine is in question if the virus
does mutate into the next pandemic virus.

I've claimed all along that the CDC and USDA should have made a
concerted effort to identify all the infected herds so that they could
try to contain the virus, but they refused to implement contact tracing
and bulk milk tank testing that has been so successful in California.
The California "success" in identifying so many infected herds using
contact tracing just tells everyone how poorly all the other states have
done that did not implement contact tracing. Idaho has been known to be
infected for months before California, but the two Idaho herds
associated with infecting California were never identified as being
infected until after California tracked back the contact information.

They need to identify all the infected herds in order to protect the
workers. The CDC recommendations to use protective gear only applies to
infected herds. The workers at undetected but infected dairies continue
to be unprotected.

Ron Okimoto