Just a couple of years ago, agricultural and public health officials were hopeful that they could keep avian flu from thriving in Oregon. But thrive it did, and some Oregonians’ so-called backyard bird farms have been devastated by infections, as the birds must be euthanized if the virus is detected. It wasn’t too long before the bird flu jumped to dairy cows, whose milk must be dumped if infected. Commercial farms are eligible for payments from the USDA to compensate for those losses, but smaller operations get no such help.
Just last month, Washington saw its first case of the virus taking hold in humans. A month later, Oregon had its first case, reported Nov. 15. The symptoms are usually mild in humans. Testing is relatively robust in states like Colorado, but Oregon and Washington are significantly behind what public health officials say is needed to monitor and maintain a healthy environment. We learn more about bird flu in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest from investigative reporter Rachel Spacek of InvestigateWest.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Jenn Chávez: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Jenn Chávez. As we talk about growing and preparing food on today’s show, it’s also important to acknowledge the many people who work tirelessly to feed us, like farm workers. And in some of their workplaces in the Northwest, there’s a new worry.
The avian flu, spreading rapidly in farm animals like chickens and cows, is now putting human workers at risk of exposure. Human cases of avian flu have emerged in Oregon and Washington in recent weeks, and although symptoms are relatively mild, when it comes to testing workers both states are behind what public health officials say is needed to monitor and maintain a healthy environment. To tell us more in the last few minutes of our show today, I’m joined now by investigative reporter Rachel Spacek. She’s been covering the spread of avian flu in the Northwest for InvestigateWest. Rachel, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the show.
Rachel Spacek: Thank you so much for having me.
Chávez: Absolutely. So, Washington was the first state in the Northwest to have an avian flu outbreak in farm animals spread to humans in October, and the first human case of avian flu hit Oregon not long ago, earlier this month. Where do things stand now in terms of spread to humans in these two states?
Spacek: Yes, it was actually interesting, I was working on this story in the later stages of publishing when Oregon’s first case happened on November 15th – a couple weeks ago – and that is indicative of how quickly and consistently this is spreading to people because, as I was writing the story, Oregon had still not reported any cases. Then as I was toward the end, Oregon got its first case. And, that case in Oregon was linked to an outbreak at a chicken farm – a commercial chicken farm – and that is how we are seeing these cases spread from chickens or cows to the workers who work with them. And that that could be spread through milk splash in the eye or other bodily fluids.
We saw, again, Oregon’s first case. Idaho has not reported any cases and Washington has 14 human cases. So Washington has quite a bit more than the other states. But my reporting shows that the testing of these workers is quite low compared to the infected animals that they work with. So experts say, across the country, that these counts that we’re seeing in humans are a severe undercount.
Chávez: Your story recently for InvestigateWest focused on testing. How extensively are people who are potentially exposed to sick farm animals being tested in either of these states – Oregon or Washington?
Spacek: I found that the testing is pretty spotty and inconsistent, and the policy around testing for avian flu basically leaves the responsibility to get tested on the workers themselves or on their employers. And this is an industry that has a lot of workers of various citizenship statuses and who often work paycheck to paycheck so can’t take a lot of time off, or it’s quite a burden to take any time off if they are sick or do need to take time off to get tested. So, I found that having them take on that responsibility, isn’t as effective as it could be.
And as far as the number of people tested, Oregon has only tested 33 people, and there are over 42 cases of avian flu in animals. So, farm worker activists that I’ve talked to are concerned by those numbers of animal cases and number of people tested, because if the people who are susceptible to this virus are working with animals… 42 cases in animals probably have had some human exposure to those animals.
Chávez: And the vulnerable human population here is farm workers, the majority of whom are migrant workers and some of whom are undocumented. Are there additional barriers or maybe fears for farm workers that might make them reluctant to be tested?
Spacek: There is definitely a lot of fear and I think we saw this during the COVID-19 pandemic as well. Fear of getting tested and interacting with any type of government public health official. And, in my reporting, I’ve talked to clinicians who say that you should not be asked your immigration status, citizenship status, at all when you’re going to get tested or getting a flu shot. And if you are, you should just leave the area. So getting that information out is important, but nonetheless, there still is a lot of fear in this community to interact with public health agencies.
And in addition to that, farmers who are being relied upon to communicate with their workers and communicate with public health officials on if there are outbreaks or concerns of avian flu symptoms in their workers, they are reliant on this work as their livelihoods. So they have an interest in keeping their workers working. And so there’s interest on both sides, a little cautiousness not to interact with public health officials and get tested for this.
Chávez: Well Rachel, I really appreciate your reporting on this. Thank you so much for joining us today to give us the lowdown on what’s been happening.
Spacek: Thank you,
Chávez: Rachel Spacek is an investigative reporter for InvestigateWest.
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