California Declares State of Emergency for Bird Flu Despite CDC’s Low Risk Assessment

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for H5N1, commonly called bird flu, “to streamline and expedite the state’s response.” The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced two more avian flu cases in dairy workers, which brings the total to 36 cases in the state since the spring of 2024.

Earlier this month, The HighWire reported on the USDA’s move to implement the National Milk Testing Strategy, which includes mandatory raw milk testing, livestock surveillance, and contact tracing. Raw Farm in California stated in a press release that they are under a mandatory quarantine even though none of their livestock have illnesses associated with H5N1. The farm said the quarantine is a “political issue” rather than a move to protect consumers from potential hazards from consuming raw milk.

Raw Farm CEO Mark McAfee joined Nicole Shanahan on her podcast to discuss the latest information regarding raw milk and H5N1 and the latest emergency declaration. Shanahan said she read the executive order, and “red flags went up everywhere.” She added, “The way that it is written to allow for the government to come onto your farm in hazmat suits; it restricts movement of herds. It restricts sale of product, it allows for the government to access your facility, it requires all kinds of the pandemic safety protocols to be adhered to or you could lose your license, your whole business. There’s parts of it that talk about managing the herds, if necessary culling them. I mean there’s suggestions around that as well. I mean, the executive order is nutty. It’s such an executive overreach.”

PBS reported about Governor Newsom’s emergency order and wrote, “The H5N1 virus can be spread in raw milk.” While fragments of the virus have been found in raw milk samples, there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through consumption of raw milk. A PBS article a week earlier stated “The FDA advises consumers not to drink raw milk because there is limited information about whether it may transmit Avian flu.”

The FDA and CDC have long advised against drinking raw milk for reasons of E. coli, bacterial infections, and food-borne illnesses. There are a few raw milk “outbreaks” that occurred in 2024, including Washington (two illnesses), Connecticut (two cases of Campylobacter), and a four-state outbreak of salmonella linked to Raw Farm with 165 cases and 20 hospitalizations.

Onions at McDonalds are linked to 104 E. coli cases, 34 hospitalizations, and one death. Organic carrots caused 48 E. coli cases, 20 hospitalizations, and one death. Organic walnuts caused 13 E. coli cases and seven hospitalizations. A salmonella outbreak occurred in cucumbers, with 100 cases and 25 hospitalizations.

McAfee referred to a Stanford study that showed high levels of H5N1 spiked in raw milk and that 99% of the viral load was inert and nonviable after two days. He said it takes three to four days for the raw milk producer to get the product to the store shelves, and usually another day or two before somebody consumes that milk.

McAfee added that there has never been a virus transferred from the consumption of raw milk. “Show me one person in all the ages of science anywhere in the world that’s ever gotten sick from a virus from raw milk,” McAfee said. “It doesn’t happen; it’s never happened. It’s not happened now. It hasn’t happened from SARS-CoVID. It’s never happened with other influenza viruses because raw milk will not allow viruses to exist. It destroys it through a whole process. They’re antiviral components in the bioactives. We know this through the work done at the CDC through breastfeeding and antibodies. In fact, the Stanford study talked about how rapidly the virus was dying off because of these bioactives that were there even in cold milk, so this is a major fear campaign.”

Breeauna Sagdal, senior writer and research fellow at The Beef Initiative, said “Industry insiders share a belief that this targeting of raw milk is less about raw milk and more about eliminating the laws that allow raw milk to be sold.”

The HighWire reported in May about a raw milk study in which mice were given raw milk inoculated with H5N1 and became sick. Inoculating raw milk with an active virus would be expected to cause sickness, and it is not the same as milk from an infected cow. That study was conducted by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a controversial virologist who once reconstituted the 1918 Spanish flu to conduct gain-of-function research. Kawaoka intentionally mutated the bird flu virus over a decade ago to make it transmissible to ferrets. Ron Fouchier, a co-researcher with Kawaoka, said they created “probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make.”

Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the CDC, went viral earlier this year for saying the only way H5N1 would become transmissible between humans is through gain of function lab work. “Right now, it takes five amino acid changes for it to be effectively infecting humans,” Redfield said. “That’s a pretty heavy species barrier. But this virus is already now in 26 mammal species. But in the laboratory, I could make it highly infectious for humans in months.”

Dr. Redfield said the biosecurity labs conducting gain-of-function research are the real threat, and he thinks bird flu “is gonna be the cause of the great pandemic.”

Earlier this month, there was a toddler who reportedly became ill after drinking raw milk, and authorities investigated the case for H5N1. The boy did not have a positive test for any influenza. There are currently no bird flu cases linked to raw milk consumption. The H5N1 cases reported in the United States are primarily associated with dairy workers who work with sick cattle.

The CDC continues to say that bird flu is a low risk to public health.