Northwest states are rarely testing agriculture workers despite bird flu racing through many farms

Bird flu is racing through farms, but Northwest states are rarely testing workers - Investigate Midwest On a recent Monday morning, workers began their week on a large poultry farm in Franklin County, Washington, home to over 800,000 chickens. By the end of the day, avian flu had been discovered among some of those chickens. By the end of the week, four workers came down with the illness, which had infected […] Lauren Cross Investigate Midwest

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Regular testing helps health officials better understand how the virus is being transmitted and how to protect workers. Without it, dozens of positive workers could be undetected, leaving them to handle symptoms on their own.

“The gold standard for public health is to be able to respond, to do surveillance and to understand what’s happening,” said Amy Liebman, chief program officer of workers, environment and climate for Migrant Clinicians Network, a nonprofit organization made up of health care workers who provide care to underserved communities. “If we don’t know that these things are happening, it’s very hard to respond.”

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