CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. — With the lake level better than they’ve been in many years, organizers of the Clearlake Oaks Catfish Derby said this year’s event will be “back to normal.”
Large crowds are expected for the annual family-oriented fishing derby known near and far as the biggest derby of its kind west of the Mississippi.
“There’s still time to sign up online and receive an early sign-up discount of $10,” said Derby Committee Chair Dennis Locke. “Apply by 11 p.m. on May 18 for the discount.”
Fees are $50 for early registrants; $60 for those registering after the deadline. The entry fee for kids (15 years and under) is $10.
Derby fishing starts at noon on May 19 and ends at noon on May 21 with an awards ceremony where prizes this year total $10,000.
Another $2,500 in prizes and merchandise, including three cash bonuses of $200, $100, and $50 will be awarded.
In the adult category, prizes range from $5,000 for first place to $40 for 20th place.
For children, the derby offers two categories of prizes for 10-year-olds and under and 11– 15-year-olds.
The prizes for both categories range from $100, 1st place to $10, 5th place.
Association President, Alvaro Valencia, encourages everyone to drop by during the derby to say hello to old friends and meet new ones.
“Come by to purchase raffle tickets, t-shirts and on the last day enjoy the awards ceremony with food, drinks and camaraderie,” he said.
Onsite registration and fish weigh-ins will again be at the Northshore Fire District Station in the Oaks at 12655 East Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport Fire Protection District Board is expected to consider a letter of no confidence against the Lake County Health Services director, the latest development in a series of escalating disagreements between that agency’s leadership and fire districts.
The fire district board will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, in the boardroom at headquarters Station 50, 445 N. Main St.
Under the board’s action items is a proposed no confidence letter aimed at Health Services Director Jonathan Portney.
Portney, who has been in the job since January of 2022, has clashed with the sheriff’s office, fire districts and his own employees over his management of the department.
A draft of the letter was not available by press time.
District staff said the item could be pulled from the agenda. If it remains on the agenda, the letter will be presented at the meeting.
At its last meeting on April 11, the board asked to have the item agendized for this meeting.
This wouldn’t be the first time a no confidence letter has been aimed at Portney.
Nine Health Services Department employees signed a Dec. 5 letter that faulted Portney for leadership failures that have led to plummeting morale and alienating community partners that they said included the fire departments, the sheriff’s office, Social Services and Behavioral Health.
In March, Lakeport Fire Chief Patrick Reitz and Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio took issue with a news release that Portney issued that they said contained inaccurate information about their districts’ staffing and suggested that they were not responding to emergency calls, which Reitz said was untrue. Ciancio went so far as to tell his board that the news release was filled with “lies.”
Both Ciancio and Reitz said Portney made the inaccurate public statements without even consulting with them first, and Ciancio believed he used as the basis of the letter secondhand information that had come from a discussion during a fire chiefs meeting at which a Health Services Department representative was not present.
Portney has been the subject of numerous closed session performance evaluations with the Board of Supervisors since he became Health Services director 16 months ago.
Over the years, it’s been the case that a county department head who has more than two to three such evaluations a year typically leaves the county’s employment.
Portney has had eight such evaluations, the last one on May 2, based on county records.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The work of first responders to protect the community will be honored once again in May.
The Lake County First Responder Memorial Ceremony will be held on Friday, May 12.
It will take place beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Lake County Museum Park, 255 N. Main St. in Lakeport.
Join local leaders and officials as they come together to honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their community in the line of duty and service.
Among Lake County’s fallen heroes are Sheriff George Kemp, Deputy Henry Valentine Snowbelt, Deputy William Hoyt, Sgt. Richard Helbush, Deputy Robert Rumfelt, and firefighters Michael Mattioda and Matthew Black.
For more information contact Deputy Cynthia Radoumis at telephone 707-262-4200.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Fire Protection District Board was set to consider a no confidence letter against Lake County’s Health Services director, however the item was pulled from the agenda at the start of the Tuesday evening meeting.
At its last regular meeting in April, the board had directed the letter of no confidence regarding Health Services Director Jonathan Portney be brought back for this week’s meeting.
In his report to the board at the start of the meeting at headquarters Station 50, Lakeport Fire Chief Patrick Reitz noted having meetings with other local officials, but no communication at all from Portney.
At that point, he said he wanted to pull the no confidence letter from consideration, as he was not yet ready to bring it forward.
Reitz told Lake County News after the meeting that the completed letter may come back at a future meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The Middletown Area Town Hall will meet this week to discuss general topics and plan upcoming presentations.
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 11, in the Middletown Community Meeting Room/Library at 21256 Washington St., Middletown. The meeting is open to the public.
To join the meeting via Zoom click on this link; the meeting ID is 832 1989 2440. Call in at 669-900-6833.
At 7:15 p.m., there will be an open discussion of MATH membership on community concerns, ideas and activities.
The group also will plan for upcoming meetings. In June, they will hear from Lake County Sheriff Rob Howe and will get an update on the Maha Guenoc resort plan from representative Chris Meredith in July.
MATH’s next meeting will take place on June 8.
The MATH Board includes Chair Monica Rosenthal, Vice Chair Todd Fiora, Secretary Ken Gonzalez, Rosemary Córdova and Bill Waite, and alternates Julia Bono and Tom Darms.
MATH — established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 — is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors this week will present several proclamations and hear updates about the library and community visioning forum.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 9, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 910 1753 0628, pass code 402874. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,91017530628#,,,,*402874#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
At the start of the meeting, the board will meet the pet of the week and get an update from the Lake County Library staff on what is new and noteworthy at the library.
Beginning at 9:09 a.m., the board will present several proclamations designating May as Military Appreciation Month, CalFresh Awareness Month and Tourism Month; the week of May 7 to 13, 2023, as Correctional Officers Week in Lake County; the day of May 9, 2023, as Fentanyl Awareness Day in Lake County; and a presentation by the Lake County FFA on their work and accomplishments.
At 10:30 a.m., the board will consider an update on the broadband action planning process.
At 11:15 a.m., there will be an update on the countywide Community Visioning Forum Planning Committee update.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2023 as Military Appreciation Month.
5.2: Approve contract between Tyler Recording and county of Lake for a five-year contract in the amount of $84,756 initial and $41,256 annually thereafter and authorize chair to sign.
5.3. Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Willow Glen Care Center for adult residential support services and specialty mental health services for fiscal year 2023-2025 in the amount of $885,500 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.4: Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between county of Lake and the SmithWaters Group for patient rights advocacy services for fiscal years 2022-2025 in the amount of $135,000 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.5: Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between county of Lake and Clover Valley Guest Home for adult residential support services and specialty mental health services for fiscal years 2022-2025 in the amount of $550,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
5.6: Adopt proclamation designating the day of May 9, 2023, as Fentanyl Awareness Day in Lake County.
5.7: a) Pursuant to Section 2-38 of the Lake County Code, waive the competitive bidding process for enhanced elements of the scope of services with Walnut Creek Consulting; and b) approve Amendment No. 1 to agreement for Behavioral Health contract management services with Walnut Creek Consulting to increase the not to exceed amount to $45,900, update scope of services, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.8: Approve Amendment No. 2 to the contract between the county of Lake and the Lake County Office of Education with no change to the contract maximum for fiscal years 2021-26 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.9: Adopt proclamation designating the month of May as Tourism Month in Lake County.
5.10: Ratify the proposed rule changes of the Lake County/City Area Planning Council as outlined in the adopted Resolution 19-20-11 of the Lake County/City Area Planning Council.
5.11: Second reading, adopt ordinance amending Chapter 5 of the Lake County Code relating to exempt agricultural building permitting for temporary hoop structures for cannabis cultivation.
5.12: Approve request to waive 900-hour limit for extra-help accountant, Cindy Silva-Brackett and Public Health Nurse Kathleen (Kitty) Wertz.
5.13: Adopt resolution approving an agreement between the state of California Department of Healthcare Services and county of Lake Health Services Department for the Medi-Cal County Inmate Program for Administrative Services and authorize the Health Services director to sign said agreement.
5.14: Approve amendment to the agreement between the county of Tehama and county of Lake for the housing of juvenile offenders for an amount not to exceed $250,000; and authorize the chair to sign.
5.15: Adopt resolution to establish a list of projects proposed to be funded in FY 2023/2024 Pursuant to the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB1) .
5.16: Approve engineering/inspection agreement with Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians.
5.17: (a) Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Mountain G. Enterprises Inc. for consulting services related to the development of an application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for grant funds, and authorize the chair to sign the agreement, and (b) authorize the application to U.S. Geological Survey for grant funds.
5.18: Adopt resolution delegating to the county Public Works Director authority to negotiate and acquire certain real estate up to $7,000; the purchase of a portion of certain parcel (APN 027-221-110), is part of the bridge replacement project on First Street over Clover Creek.
5.19: Adopt proclamation designating the week of May 7 to 13, 2023, as Correctional Officers Week in Lake County.
5.20: Approve long distance travel for Diana Duran, Adult Services Program manager; Thomas Swanson, APS supervisor Catherine Sims, APS social worker to attend the NAPSA Annual Conference training in Boston, Massachusetts from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1, 2023.
5.21: Approve contract between county of Lake and Shore Side Electric for Electrical Services, in the Amount of $49,000 from April 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.22: Adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2023, as CalFresh Awareness Month.
5.23: Sitting as the Board of Directors of the Lake County Watershed Protection District, approve the memorandum of understanding: Implementation of the Westside Sacramento Integrated Regional Water Management Plan for the Westside Subregion of the Sacramento River Funding Area, and authorize the chair to sign.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:07 a.m.: Pet of the Week.
6.3, 9:08 a.m.: New and noteworthy at the Library.
6.4, 9:09 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2023 as Military Appreciation Month.
6.5, 9:10 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2023 as CalFresh Awareness Month.
6.6, 9:11 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of May 7 to 13, 2023, as Correctional Officers Week in Lake County.
6.7, 9:12 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of May as Tourism Month in Lake County.
6.8, 9:13 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the day of May 9, 2023, as Fentanyl Awareness Day in Lake County.
6.9, 9:14 a.m.: Presentation by the Lake County FFA on their work and accomplishments.
6.10, 10 a.m.: Consideration of the March 31, 2023, report of Lake County Pooled Investments.
6.11, 10:30 a.m.: Consideration of an update on the broadband action planning process by CBG Communications Inc.
6.12, 11:15 a.m.: Consideration of Lake Countywide Community Visioning Forum Planning Committee update.
6.13, 11:30 a.m.: Consideration of Scotts Valley Community Advisory Council project requests and prior allocation of discretionary cannabis tax funds.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of one-time dedication of 1% of Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funding (LATCF, $30,607.51) to Support Establishment of a National Center for Public Lands Counties.
7.3: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Lower Lake Cemetery District.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1, 2 p.m.: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b) (1): Interviews for Child Support Services director; appointment of Child Support Services director.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, May 10.
The committee, or LEDAC, will meet from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 10, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The meeting is open to the public.
Agenda items include updates on city projects and City Council priorities.
There also will be discussion of the LEDAC action plan for fiscal year 2023-24, member reports, citizen input and announcements.
LEDAC’s next meeting will be July 12.
LEDAC advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members are Chair Wilda Shock, Vice Chair Denise Combs and Secretary JoAnn Saccato, along with Bonnie Darling, Jeff Davis, Candy De Los Santos, Bill Eaton, Monica Flores, Barbara Flynn, Pam Harpster, Laura McAndrews Sammel, Bob Santana and Tim Stephens. City staff who are members include City Manager Kevin Ingram and Community Development Department representatives.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Submit comments and questions in writing for commission consideration by sending them to Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line.
Community members also can participate via Zoom. The webinar ID is 867 6869 4451. Dial in at 1 669 444 9171 or use phone one-tap at 16694449171,,86768694451# or +17207072699,,86768694451#.
The meeting also can be watched on the city’s YouTube account.
To give the planning commission adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit written comments before 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 9.
During the Tuesday meeting, the commission will hold a public hearing to determine general plan consistency and make an environmental determination for the city’s plans to sell the following properties:
City Manager said the use the properties is “diverse.” The only one to be sold by the city is on 35th Avenue, and all of the others are purchase or donations.
“Several are related to code enforcement issues and the end use is likely to be housing. Some are more likely for commercial use,” he said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The legislative package the U.S. House of Representatives passed on April 26, 2023, by a narrow margin would pare federal spending over the next decade while also raising the debt ceiling. One important measure in the Republican-backed bill would restrict access to Medicaid for millions of Americans.
The package the House recently passed would require all states to implement this policy. An estimated 15 million Americans with Medicaid would need to comply with the requirements.
This change would dramatically increase bureaucratic hassles for Medicaid beneficiaries who are disproportionately low-income, disabled and nonwhite. KFF, a health care research nonprofit, estimates that 1.7 million people would lose federal coverage. However, states have the option to continue to pay for these individuals solely with state funds.
Those who would be subject to the new rules would not be the only ones at risk. It is well known that many of the exempt populations, including the aged and disabled, struggle to complete paperwork or fail to understand complex bureaucratic rules. Many experts predict that coverage losses could be even higher among these demographics, as states would consider them to be out of compliance with work requirements.
Are there precedents for this policy?
This is not the first time that Republicans sought to make access to Medicaid contingent on meeting work requirements for at least some beneficiaries. The Trump administration worked with various Republican-led states to use what are known as 1115 demonstration waivers for that purpose. These waivers allow states to make temporary changes to their Medicaid programs that depart from certain statutory requirements. However, those efforts were quickly blocked in court. Most were never even piloted before the Biden administration rescinded them.
The Arkansas experience, which was particularly burdensome for beneficiaries, reaffirmed many concerns of those who oppose work requirements. Importantly, the reason many lost coverage was not that they failed to complete the required hours of paid work, job training or community service, but that they struggled to overcome bureaucratic challenges.
Efforts are also underway in Georgia to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries despite legal hurdles and the Biden administration’s objections. With President Joe Biden in office, it’s going to remain difficult to experiment with this policy unless Congress approves a measure like the one in the House package.
What would be different this time?
States had to actively seek out those waivers that Republicans embraced when former President Donald Trump was in the White House. That meant that Medicaid beneficiaries in states with Democratic leadership, such as California, were unlikely to ever confront them.
The proposed changes in the House legislation would force all states to implement work requirements for adults from 18 to 55 without dependents. Failure to comply would put states at risk of losing federal funding, so even Democratic-led states would have to adopt these rules. The proposed changes would also circumvent many of the legal concerns that previously prevented the widespread implementation of Medicaid work requirements.
Some other safety net programs are supposed to achieve multiple goals. For example, the official mission of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is to “end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work and marriage,” rather than just to help those needy parents make ends meet.
Ironically, pushing people off Medicaid, either for failing to fulfill work requirements or because they struggle with navigating the bureaucracy, would likely reduce the number of people who work.
For now, I think it’s far more likely that the Republicans in Congress are setting the stage for future efforts to make more public assistance programs contingent on complying with work requirements, especially the next time a Republican becomes the president of the United States.
If measures like the one the House passed as part of the Republican debt-ceiling package were to become law, even states with entrenched Democratic leadership could have little recourse to fight back.
For the 20th time since 1933, Congress is writing a multiyear farm bill that will shape what kind of food U.S. farmers grow, how they raise it and how it gets to consumers. These measures are large, complex and expensive: The next farm bill is projected to cost taxpayers US$1.5 trillion over 10 years.
Modern farm bills address many things besides food, from rural broadband access to biofuels and even help for small towns to buy police cars. These measures bring out a dizzying range of interest groups with diverse agendas.
As a former Senate aide and senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I’ve seen this intricate process from all sides. In my view, with the challenges in this round so complex and with critical 2024 elections looming, it could take Congress until 2025 to craft and enact a bill. Here are four key issues shaping the next farm bill, and through it, the future of the U.S. food system.
These measures follow unprecedented spending for farm support during the Trump administration. Now legislators are jockeying over raising the debt ceiling, which limits how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills.
Agriculture Committee leaders and farm groups argue that more money is necessary to strengthen the food and farm sector. If they have their way, the price tag for the next farm bill would increase significantly from current projections.
On the other side, reformers argue for capping payments to farmers, which The Washington Post recently described as an “expensive agricultural safety net,” and restricting payment eligibility. In their view, too much money goes to very large farms that produce commodity crops like wheat, corn, soybeans and rice, while small and medium-size producers receive far less support.
Food aid is the key fight
Many people are surprised to learn that nutrition assistance – mainly through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps – is where most farm bill money is spent. Back in the 1970s, Congress began including nutrition assistance in the farm bill to secure votes from an increasingly urban nation.
Today, over 42 million Americans depend on SNAP, including nearly 1 in every 4 children. Along with a few smaller programs, SNAP will likely consume 80% of the money in the new farm bill, up from 76% in 2018.
Why have SNAP costs grown? During the pandemic, SNAP benefits were increased on an emergency basis, but that temporary arrangement expired in March 2023. Also, in response to a directive included in the 2018 farm bill, the Department of Agriculture recalculated what it takes to afford a healthy diet, known as the Thrifty Food Plan, and determined that it required an additional $12-$16 per month per recipient, or 40 cents per meal.
Because it’s such a large target, SNAP is where much of the budget battle will play out. Most Republicans typically seek to rein in SNAP; most Democrats usually support expanding it.
Anti-hunger advocates are lobbying to make the increased pandemic benefits permanent and defend the revised Thrifty Food Plan. In contrast, Republicans are calling for SNAP reductions, and are particularly focused on expanding work requirements for recipients.
Debating climate solutions
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provided $19.5 billion to the Department of Agriculture for programs that address climate change. Environmentalists and farmers alike applauded this investment, which is intended to help the agriculture sector embrace climate-smart farming practices and move toward markets that reward carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services.
This big pot of money has become a prime target for members of Congress who are looking for more farm bill funding. On the other side, conservation advocates, sustainable farmers and progressive businesses oppose diverting climate funds for other purposes.
But without more research and standards, observers worry that investments in climate-smart agriculture will support greenwashing – misleading claims about environmental benefits – rather than a fundamentally different system of production. Mixed research results have raised questions as to whether establishing carbon markets based on such practices is premature.
A complex bill and inexperienced legislators
Understanding farm bills requires highly specialized knowledge about issues ranging from crop insurance to nutrition to forestry. Nearly one-third of current members of Congress were first elected after the 2018 farm bill was enacted, so this is their first farm bill cycle.
I expect that, as often occurs in Congress, new members will follow more senior legislators’ cues and go along with traditional decision making. This will make it easier for entrenched interests, like the American Farm Bureau Federation and major commodity groups, to maintain support for Title I programs, which provide revenue support for major commodity crops like corn, wheat and soybeans. These programs are complex, cost billions of dollars and go mainly to large-scale operations.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s current stump speech spotlights the fact that 89% of U.S. farmers failed to make a livable profit in 2022, even though total farm income set a record at $162 billion. Vilsack asserts that less-profitable operations should be the focus of this farm bill – but when pressed, he appears unwilling to concede that support for large-scale operations should be changed in any way.
When I served as deputy secretary of agriculture from 2009 to 2011, I oversaw the department’s budget process and learned that investing in one thing often requires defunding another. My dream farm bill would invest in three priorities: organic agriculture as a climate solution; infrastructure to support vibrant local and regional markets and shift away from an agricultural economy dependent on exporting low-value crops; and agricultural science and technology research aimed at reducing labor and chemical inputs and providing new solutions for sustainable livestock production.
In my view, it is time for tough policy choices, and it won’t be possible to fund everything. Congress’ response will show whether it supports business as usual in agriculture, or a more diverse and sustainable U.S. farm system.
Avian flu cases have spiked around the globe in recent weeks, devastating bird populations and making headlines.
The spread of the illness, caused by the H5N1 virus, has resulted in 58 million bird deaths since last fall — driving up poultry and egg prices and raising public concerns about it spreading to other species.
“People are worried that it’s circulating a ton in birds and, now, some in mammals,” explains UC San Francisco infectious disease fellow Natasha Spottiswoode, MD, PhD. “There’s a concern that it might spill over into humans, as previous influenzas have.”
But how likely is it that bird flu spurs the next pandemic? We asked Spottiswoode and UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi, who combines genetics, computer science and biochemistry to track viruses.
What is bird flu?
Spottiswoode: Bird flu is the common name for a particular strain of what we call highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI. It occurs in wild and domesticated birds across the world.
Flu gets subdivided into influenza A — which includes bird flu — and influenza B, which is less of an issue. Influenza A is further named by the two proteins on its surface, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), but that’s just a fancy way of saying that this particular virus is called H5N1. The numbers in its name refer to its clade, or branch of the influenza A family.
How does bird flu spread to humans?
Spottiswoode: Bird flu can spread to humans if people come in contact with fluids or feces from infected birds and can cause flu-like symptoms. It’s treated with antiviral medication.
There have been no documented cases of human-to-human transmission of H5N1. As of April 2023, only a single person had been potentially infected in the U.S., but this could have been a misdiagnosis because they had been culling birds. If someone is working with birds and getting their fluids on them, it’s possible that very sensitive tests could detect the simple presence of the virus — rather than the patient having a true infection.
How can we prevent future epidemics of bird flu or other animal-borne viruses?
Spottiswoode: There are several ways pandemics emerge, and one of them is by putting different animals and people close together. This includes wet markets and the pet trade, but it’s also becoming more common as wild places shrink.
DeRisi: The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak was traced to animals sold in a wet market. There are significant U.S. regulations against wet markets for this reason, but they’re still allowed in other countries.
Spottiswoode: The U.S. is one of the largest importers of wild animals through the exotic pet trade. There was a massive Mpox outbreak this year, which usually affects rodents but can – through close contact – spread to humans, leading to painful rashes, for example. The 2003 U.S. Mpox outbreak originated through the pet trade as breeders kept prairie dogs next to imported pouched rats carrying Mpox.
Will bird flu be the next COVID-19?
Spottiswoode: Bird flu is fairly unlikely to be the next pandemic. To become a pandemic, a virus has to be able to pass from person to person effectively — as COVID-19 does. This virus has not shown the propensity to do that yet.
DeRisi: There have been thousands of outbreaks in birds and dozens in other animals, and the virus hasn’t spilled over into humans. That gives us some confidence that the biological barrier that the virus would have to cross between birds and us is high. That doesn’t mean it can’t be surpassed — we know it can — but it isn’t likely. There’s reason not to panic, but there’s also reason to be cautious.
Spottiswoode: Pandemics are a bit like avalanches — they are both individually low probability, but extremely high consequence events. On a grand scale, with the number of viruses that circulate, there is a very large chance that one of them will become an avalanche. You can ski the same slope every year and nothing will happen. It becomes tempting to say, “I’ll go out today without safety equipment.” Then, one day, everything just comes down on you.
We really should be working on our safety systems to prevent them or stop them in their tracks.
Laura Lopez Gonzalez writes for the University of California, San Francisco.