From Katie Ferrari, helpful insights about farmworkers
Hi Eric, thank you for your recent post on H5N1! This coverage is important. I'm writing to urge you to expand on what you addressed in paragraph 3: "The only documented human case to date was a dairy worker through direct contact that resulted in conjunctivitis." Multiple farmworkers have H5N1 symptoms but are not going to get tested for understandable reasons: they are undocumented, rely on the job to support their families, etc. The CDC and other agencies should be mandating and providing tests and—this is most important—paid sick leave, for workers to isolate. If public health officials fail to do this, we are at risk of H5N1 transmission among humans mushrooming. The current approach demonstrates how little the CDC has learned little from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Thank you for this excellent post! So informative, and an extra thank you to the great article by Helen Branswell! I love her writing and can't afford a subscription to STAT.
From Katie Ferrari, helpful insights about farmworkers
Hi Eric, thank you for your recent post on H5N1! This coverage is important. I'm writing to urge you to expand on what you addressed in paragraph 3: "The only documented human case to date was a dairy worker through direct contact that resulted in conjunctivitis." Multiple farmworkers have H5N1 symptoms but are not going to get tested for understandable reasons: they are undocumented, rely on the job to support their families, etc. The CDC and other agencies should be mandating and providing tests and—this is most important—paid sick leave, for workers to isolate. If public health officials fail to do this, we are at risk of H5N1 transmission among humans mushrooming. The current approach demonstrates how little the CDC has learned little from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Thank you for this excellent post! So informative, and an extra thank you to the great article by Helen Branswell! I love her writing and can't afford a subscription to STAT.