Bird Flu: Inconsistent state protections for dairy workers

Discover the patchwork of state responses to dairy workers' bird flu risks.

Dec. 5, 2024 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting

One-third of state health departments with confirmed bird flu outbreaks in dairy cattle don't track distribution of PPE

The spread of bird flu into dairy herds this year created a new risk for workers on dairy farms and in milk processing facilities. One of the best ways to protect workers is with face shields, latex gloves, respirators, and other personal protective equipment.

However, dairy-producing states have been mixed in how they provide PPE to farms and workers, a review of public records by Investigate Midwest found.

Some states are providing farms with free access to PPE but are receiving few requests. Other states with outbreaks are leaving PPE distribution to local health agencies and aren’t tracking who is getting what.

In this week’s feature story, John McCracken, Investigate Midwest’s meat industry reporter, reviewed records from 15 states to better understand how PPE is and isn’t getting to dairy workers.

“It looks like a failure in how we're communicating on the public health side to producers,” said Bethany Alcauter, director of research and public health for the National Center for Farmworker Health.

— Ben Felder, editor in chief

Access to PPE, a critical tool in fighting bird flu, is mixed across dairy-producing states, records show
By John McCracken, Investigate Midwest

In May, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that state public health departments, veterinarians and epidemiologists provide personal protective equipment, or PPE, for workers in direct contact with animals and their fluids, such as raw milk, that could be exposed to bird flu.

As of early December, almost 60 people have been infected with the virus, with the majority of cases stemming from human contact with dairy cattle. Nearly 700 dairy cattle herds have been infected.

Records from 15 states, which Investigate Midwest obtained through multiple public records requests, found:

At least a third of state health departments in states with confirmed dairy cattle outbreaks do not track the distribution of PPE.
Ohio, Wyoming and New Mexico, which have had active bird flu cases in dairy cattle, have either not tracked requests for farmworker PPE or are currently not accepting requests.
Only one dairy farm in Wisconsin, a major dairy state that has not had a confirmed cattle outbreak, has requested PPE from the state’s health department.
Minnesota has had few cases of bird flu in dairy cattle, but more than 200 agriculture businesses have received PPE from the state.
Michigan and North Carolina, which are also major dairy-producing states, have provided PPE to less than a dozen farms.

GRAPHIC: Irrigation, water use on US farms are in decline
By Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest/Report for America

Irrigation on U.S. farms declined between 2018 and 2023, with fewer farms using irrigation methods and less water applied overall, the latest data shows.

Over that five-year period, the number of irrigated farms dropped by 8%, irrigated acres decreased by 5%, and water use fell from 83.4 million to 81 million acre-feet, according to the 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey.

View the graphic.

ICYMI: State agencies initially struggled to coordinate bird flu response, records show
By John McCracken, Sky Chadde and Jennifer Bamberg, Investigate Midwest

This investigation from October spotlights the disconnect and disagreements among agencies about which ones are responsible for bird flu testing and whether confirmed cases should be made public.

In May, a CBS News reporter asked the Illinois Department of Agriculture if there were bird flu-positive dairy herds in Kane County, only to be told the department “doesn’t have any role in this testing” and was directed to the state’s health department.

But an internal email from Connie Austin, the public health department’s veterinarian and deputy state epidemiologist, revealed disagreement.

“I just want to reinforce that IL Dept of Ag should be the source of information about positive dairy herds as they would be coordinating the testing/getting results from USDA etc.,” she wrote to high-ranking agency members in the public health department.

The reporter’s email request came nearly two months after the first reported case of bird flu in dairy cattle.

Because bird flu poses a risk to both animals and humans, state departments of agriculture and health have overlapping roles. However, records and emails obtained by Investigate Midwest show the two agencies in multiple states often disagreed on who was responsible for testing and whether confirmed cases should be publicized. Emails also showed that officials within state agriculture agencies disagreed on how to investigate suspected cases.