LANCASTER, Pa. — As Pennsylvania leaders continue to grapple with a surge of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza cases, Lancaster County has emerged as the epicenter of one of the worst outbreaks in years.
On Tuesday, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported an outbreak affected 167,500 birds at a commercial broiler production facility in Lancaster County, bringing the total number of birds affected to 6.1 million in the county since the start of the year.
Statewide, more than 7.7 million birds have been affected by the outbreak, according to Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and other members of the Shapiro administration, who gathered in Lancaster County earlier this week to discuss how to confront the surge…