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This month the California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency after epidemiologists confirmed the spread of bird flu in 34 people. Louisiana also reported one serious case, causing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others in the health community to closely monitor the outbreak.
As of Friday there were 64 human cases throughout the country, and none in Utah, according to the CDC .
For some, the announcement made four years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown can be anxiety-inducing. Experts from Utah say that this is a “very different landscape than COVID.”
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The outbreak of H5N1, most commonly known as bird flu, isn’t as novel as the coronavirus was during its peak, Dr. Ben Bradley, assistant professor at the University of Utah and medical director at Salt Lake City-based ARUP laboratories, said in a virtual call with reporters on Friday.
“We’ve been much more proactive in addressing this outbreak,” Bradley said, “in part because we’ve been able to monitor it more quickly.”