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Extent Of The Spread Of The Virus Is Unknown Due To Lack of Data

Farmers Not Participating In Voluntarily Sampling Program

Extent Of Spread Of Virus To NJ Farms, Wildlife And People Unknown

Last month, based on a New York Times page one story, I chastised the Murphy DEP’s mismanagement of dead vultures left to rot in the forest and spread disease in light of scientific concerns with the spread of bird flu, see:

• Dead Vultures Coming Home To Roost

I recently read an even more alarming story coincidentally published on that same day by Politico.

The Politico story disclosed the fact that the voluntary efforts of the Biden administration to collect data on the extent of the spread of the virus were failing:

Reliance on individual dairy farmers to help track the spread of avian flu is leaving the federal government without the data necessary to understand — and slow — the virus’ spread in the U.S.

The biggest challenge for the federal response, agriculture and public health officials told POLITICO, is that the more the virus spreads among dairy cows, the more opportunity it has to mutate and become easier to jump to additional humans. The number of documented infected dairy herds in recent weeks has risen rapidly — and several other states have confirmed initial infections in cows.

But many dairy farmers are declining to test their cows, leaving the nation vulnerable to a situation in which federal officials won’t have adequate warning if the virus evolves and poses a greater risk of infection to people.

The federal response is largely focusing on voluntary efforts by farmers to help track and contain the outbreak. But many farms still have not signed up for USDA efforts to boost surveillance and testing for the virus. To date, 94 herds across 12 states have tested positive for bird flu, but the testing has covered a mere fraction of the nation’s nine million dairy cattle. Only about 45 exposed and symptomatic humans have been tested for avian flu, CDC Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah said in a Thursday briefing with reporters.

Given this lack of data at the federal level and the failed reliance on voluntary efforts by farmers, I thought I’d look into how the Murphy Administration was responding at the State level, particularly given the DEP’s prior mismanagement and the known presence of bird flu in New Jersey.

So, on June 21, I filed an OPRA request to DEP asking for the data on wildlife:

I request sampling data results for avian (bird) flu sampling conducted by the New Jersey DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife on NJ wildlife, including birds, dogs, cats, raccoons, bears, fox, coyote, and any other species, conducted during the period 1/1/23 to the present. I request this data by location (by municipality and county). Aggregate data reports, by species, in lieu of individual sampling results are

acceptable.

I filed a similar request to the Murphy Department of Agriculture to understand how many NJ farms were impacted, see:

I request sampling data results for avian (bird) flu sampling conducted at NJ poultry and dairy farms during the period 1/1/23 to the present. The names of the farms may be redacted, but I request individual farm sampling data and farm location (by municipality and county). Sampling results requested include sampling conducted by the NJ Dept. of Agriculture, USDA and/or private farms. Request electronic response and avoid fees per paper page & postage

I suspect that the Murphy Administration is replicating the federal government’s failed reliance on voluntary participation by NJ farmers.

I suspect that the NJ Department of Agriculture lacks reliable and adequate data on NJ farms.

I suspect that the Murphy Department of Environmental Protection has similarly stuck its head in the sand and has not developed a credible sampling program to determine the extent of the spread of the virus to wildlife.

And, although I did not file an OPRA for this data, I suspect that the Murphy Department of Health has even less data than the federal CDC and has no human sampling program in place.

Th OPRA reply deadline is this week, so we’ll let you know if my suspicions are accurate and what the data say.

In the meantime, perhaps some intrepid journalist out there might inquire at the Murphy DoH, DoAg and DEP.

And maybe our legislators could make inquiries and hold oversight hearings.

And maybe the public health community might pressure the administration and educate the public and the media.

The June 27 NJ Spotlight Op-Ed  “call for vigilance- curiously published a week AFTER my OPRA request – was written by former government officials and did NOT highlight the fatally flawed voluntary response thus far or demand any NJ State government responses.