CDC mourns first bird flu death, raising questions on agency sentiment. Death described as associated with bird flu; few cow cases reported. Since Feb 2022, 134M birds culled in the U.S. as outbreaks affect 50 states and nearly 924 dairy herds. USDA reports 20M egg-laying chickens died last quarter, leading to soaring egg prices. Taxpayers compensate farmers for culled livestock, spending $1.25B since 2022, facing higher grocery costs.
Updating bird flu info as I will be on an X space tom'r (Jan. 14) 9 pm ET. No new human cases this past week. I hope the new administration can get the USDA and HHS to explain what their bird flu plan is and how spending billions on this faux pandemic makes any sense Tue, 14 Jan 2025 04:22:14 GMT https://merylnass.substack.com/p/updating-bird-flu-info-as-i-will First, CDC is saddened by the first bird flu-caused death. Who writes their copy? When did agencies start having feelings? We should assume that CDC was thrilled to finally have a human death to justify its ongoing culling of poultry and destruction of massive amounts of milk and dairy products.
Second, elsewhere the CDC is careful to report that the death is ASSOCIATED with bird flu, not caused by bird flu. Still only 16 states report there have been cases in cows.
Third, it seems that we are up to 134 MILLION birds culled since February 2022 in the United States.
Detections in Animals 10,948 wild birds detected as of 1/7/2025 | Full Report
51 jurisdictions with bird flu in wild birds
133,910,844 poultry affected as of 1/10/2024 | Full Report
50 states with outbreaks in poultry
924 dairy herds affected as of 1/10/2024 | Full Report
16 states with outbreaks in dairy cows
These data will be updated daily, Monday through Friday, after 4 p.m. to reflect any new data. Cumulative data on wild birds have been collected since January 20, 2022. Cumulative data on poultry have been collected since February 8, 2022. Cumulative data on humans in the U.S. have been collected since April 28, 2022. Cumulative data on dairy cattle have been collected since March 25, 2024.
Today, from CBS News:
More than 20 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S. died last quarter because of bird flu, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows, marking the worst toll inflicted on America's egg supply since the outbreak began.
The record number of chicken deaths, which includes those birds culled when infection is discovered in a flock, come as figures show egg prices have soared to the highest they have been in years , driven in large part by the virus.
"Unlike in past years, in 2024, all major production systems experienced significant losses including conventional caged, cage-free, and certified organic types," a USDA report said this month .
Taxpayers will pick up the tab for the lost birds. To incentivize farmers to quickly report and stomp out the virus, a USDA program pays producers for the eggs and poultry they cull.
Last year, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it had spent $1.25 billion on payments to farmers since the outbreak started in 2022.
So taxpayers pay for the culling and then pay more at the grocers.