Rant: Legacy media sucks shit. I’m not an epidemiologist and I need context but 74% seems really fucking bad to me.
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I googled but only Twitter and Bluesky have info. The page is at usda.gov and the data stuff doesn’t load for me. There’s a “Download Data” link at the top if you have the same problem.
I based my headline on this Bluesky post.
H5N1 Bird Flu Spreads Rapidly Through California Dairy Herds
The USDA has confirmed that five more dairy herds in California are infected, bringing the total number to 732.
As of now, 74% of the state’s dairy herds have tested positive for the virus.
[Bluesky link deleted]
Just for the benefit of future historians, I have to mention Colorado- H5N1’s primary origin- and its feral approach to dairies every time I see a story about it.
Obviously raw milk is bad. If you have a counterargument, fuck you I don’t care. It’s bad and the most rudimentary public health enforcement understands it as such. You can’t sell raw milk in Colorado because that’s enabling multiple epidemics.
The industrial dairies that can’t legally sell raw milk circumvent this law by selling “shares” of a “cow”. All of a sudden you’re a simple homesteader drinking from your family cow, even if it’s raised in the same conditions that enable bird flu using the most infectious methods. A herd fed chicken shit from the same industrial poultry farms that gave us the first case of human transmission after prison slaves were used to cull infected flocks. Every reactionary and granola liberal I know swears by their raw milk supply from these dairies, by and large also antivaxxers and COVID denialists. After seeing this epidemic in the form of a lake full of dead geese, allowing this to happen is the most disgusting thing I’ve personally witnessed. When people you care about begin dying of this, Colorado’s state government manufactured it to benefit their agribusiness donors. It is entirely intentionally created.
Folks, never a better time to go hard line vegan.
Deeply unserious people.
It is the year 4003831779 and there are still democrats on earth. One of them says “I hate conspiracies but this is has got to be a Russian or Trump ally supernova attack on earth…”
I like this because it’s like ok what’s the answer? Ignore it and let it kill us?
In these cases do they cull the herds? Or is it just like a fuck it, the milk is pasteurized anyway sort of situation. BC if this is true milk prices should go through the roof very soon, $20/gallon type situation
In these cases do they cull the herds?
I’m going insane for a variety of reasons - Trump, the GOP, the dems, and (legacy) media. The media should be informing the public so it knows the answers to vital questions like yours. One day outlets like MSNBC will suddenly say something like “91% of California’s dairy herds have tested positive for H5N1…” and the public will be angry and yelling. “How the fuck did it suddenly get to 91%!” I made 91% up of course. But my logic is that if the entirety of major outlets (even AP, UPI too) are ignoring 7x% - they’ll also ignore 8x%.
And then the media will be angry at the public as misdirection for its own failure to do the basics of its job. In fact - op-eds will probably bemoan the public’s lack of understanding of this pandemic. Gee, why is that?
This is like powerlessly watching a super-duper-slomo train wreck.
It could be that the testing is not random, but done on herds suspected of having infections. Like how we pay attention to test positivity at hospitals for COVID.
Either way it is still an incredible statistic.
As of now, 74% of the state’s dairy herds have tested positive for the virus.
This does not sound like specified testing to me
At least some of the testing follows suspicion of infection.
Voluntary Testing of Cattle
While interstate movement testing of lactating dairy cattle is required per the Federal Order, producers and veterinarians may choose to conduct additional testing to manage HPAI suspect or affected herds to better protect their herds. If this testing is performed at NAHLN laboratories, APHIS will support the testing costs provided they obtain a FAD number (for sick cattle) or include a premises ID and follow the testing guidance below. APHIS will reimburse for Influenza testing at NAHLN laboratories associated with this event for the following submission reasons:
- Suspect cattle
- Apparently healthy cattle that have been exposed to or epidemiologically linked to suspect or confirmed positive HPAI cattle
- Cattle from producers concerned their cattle may have HPAI
- Sick or dead domestic animals near affected premises
- Wildlife (reason for submission must indicate emerging event)
- Monitoring of healthy cattle via bulk tank samples (approved participation per protocol specified below)
Whoever posted this on Bluesky is ludicrously incorrect. There are around 732 affected herds in California, but California has 11,000 herds. That’s 6.65%.
Also, the presentation is highly misleading. Only one cow in a herd needs to be infected with H5N1 for the herd to be “affected”. There are 1.75 million cattle in California. As little as 0.04% of California’s cattle stock could be affected.
Further, H5N1 doesn’t cause serious illness in cows, just 7-10 days of minor symptoms. We don’t even know that cows can spread it to each other.
I’m deleting this post.
