Two letters, signed by representatives of differing communities, express dissatisfaction with the Biden-Harris Administration’s progress in fighting Avian flu and offer suggestions for improvement. One of the letters is from Hannah Connor, Deputy Director of Environmental Health, for the Center for Biological Diversity, and also written on behalf of CleanAIRE NC, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Mercy for Animals, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (SRAP), Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Waterkeeper Alliance, and the Winyah Rivers Alliance. Connor wrote Mandy Cohen, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “ I write to implore the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to undertake a more vigorous response to the avian influenza outbreak.
This response should include increased public transparency, on-the-ground epidemiological investigations, and other measures to understand and contain the risk presented by the recent outbreak of the H5N1strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle herds and at least three farm workers — two, in Texas and one in Michigan — connected to the most recent spread of HPAI in dairy cows and one connected with poultry depopulation activities in Colorado. The agency should take bold action to determine the true extent of this outbreak and stop it before its threat to people, wildlife, and farmed animals becomes impossible to contain.” T.