Michael Watson, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, says every lactating dairy cow must be tested before moving across state lines. Positive test results would trigger additional requirements for officials to investigate herds. He said the order could help overcome reluctance from some milk producers to allow testing in their herds. Voluntary testing protocols for cows, limited until now to cows with symptoms, has drawn criticism from public health experts.
In the current outbreak, officials have confirmed avian flu in dairy cows in eight states and one human case in a Texas farmworker. That person has recovered.
But testing uncovered fragments of the virus in milk sold at grocery stores, another sign the virus is more prevalent in cows than official testing shows, including in asymptomatic cows. Federal officials stressed existing research suggests pasteurization renders the virus unable to infect humans; additional reviews are underway.
Public health experts have also faulted the Biden administration for not sharing more data about the outbreak, warning it could hinder scientific research and hamper the global response.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.