Counties Declare Bird Flu Emergency

By WILLIAM KINCAID and ABIGAIL MILLER
newsroom@dailystandard.com

CELINA - A state of emergency has been declared in Mercer and Darke counties due to ongoing outbreaks of High Path Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, as local officials seek emergency funding, resources and technical support to mitigate further losses and contain the spread of the virus.

"It is a disaster for our poultry producers in Mercer County as well as Darke County," Mercer County Commissioner Brian Miller told The Daily Standard.

Commissioners in both counties Tuesday passed similarly worded resolutions declaring an emergency and requesting state and federal support.

"We conferred back and forth to have a unified front on this," said Mercer County Commissioner Rick Muhlenkamp. "It comes across as a stronger voice to act on the same day with the same wording."

The resolution asserts that HPAI outbreaks pose a severe risk to the economic stability of the agricultural sector, as well as to employment, supply chains, price inflation and small businesses across the counties.

Affected poultry operations are vital to the local economy and provide essential food products to the region, state and nation, according to the resolution.

Hence, commissioners said the situation requires immediate and effective intervention, including the provision of emergency funding, resources and technical support to mitigate further losses, contain the spread of the disease and restore affected agricultural operations to full productivity as quickly as possible.

"Really the goal is to get it to the Ohio Department of Agriculture and then along with (that) Gov. DeWine's staff, because they're going to be the ones that will have the authority then to pass it along to more of the federal level," Muhlenkamp explained. "Ultimately, the goal is maybe we could secure some funding from the USDA through this process."

Commissioners in their resolutions are requesting the following resources and capabilities to assist in the containment, eradication and recovery efforts related to the disease:

• Affirmation testing. In barns where poultry tested positive but are showing no clinical symptoms, flock owners should be granted the ability to take three additional test samples within the affected facility, with one sample to be sent to a state or federal lab and the other two samples sent to accredited labs of the owner's choice.

The commissioners request that the depopulation process be delayed until the three samples show consistency with a positive result. Depopulation refers to the required practice of destroying the flocks in barns where HPAI has been confirmed to prevent further spread of the disease.

• Immediate allocation of emergency financial support to poultry farmers who have been directly affected by HPAI, including compensation for the loss of poultry and revenue losses due to quarantine and depopulation measures.

• Resource allocation. The provision of resources such as personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectants and biosecurity supplies to support the efforts of farmers, veterinarians and agricultural extension workers in managing the outbreak and preventing further spread.

• Veterinary support and expertise. Deployment of veterinary professionals and disease control experts to assist with the diagnosis, testing and culling of infected poultry, as well as guidance on best practices for disinfection and recovery measures for affected farms.

• Activation of existing federal or state agricultural relief programs to provide low-interest loans, grants or insurance claims to affected farmers for recovery, repopulation of flocks and infrastructure repair.

• Full cooperation with state and federal agencies such as the USDA, Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and Ohio Department of Natural Resources for coordinated response, resource deployment and exemptions from select regulations.

HPAI continues to affect numerous commercial poultry producers in western Ohio, with ODA reporting new detections almost daily.

HPAI is a contagious viral disease that poses a major threat to the poultry industry and animal health.

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory on Tuesday confirmed a detection of bird flu in Darke County affecting 20,060 commercial turkeys and a detection in Mercer County affecting 16,733 commercial turkeys.

ODA does not identify individual farms during active cases.

As required, the affected commercial facilities are under quarantine and the involved poultry have been depopulated.

Ohio has had the most detections of bird flu in the country this year with 63 total, 41 in Mercer, 19 in Darke, two in Auglaize and one in Van Wert; affecting 11,140,014 commercial birds.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the current risk of bird flu for the general public to be low, and there are no known cases of human-to-human transmission. However, people with close and prolonged, unprotected contact with infected birds are at greater risk. Last week, an unidentified Mercer County farm worker who was in contact with deceased commercial poultry was infected with the virus, according to the Mercer County Health District.