A map of the US showing wastewater sample stations and if H5 bird flu was detected.
H5 bird flu found in wastewater in New Jersey and Las Vegas, according to CDC's wastewater program.
New Jersey don't have any known cases of H5N1 bird flu in poultry or dairy cattle.
Wastewater testing doesn't tell you the source of the positive test.
Could be from infected dairy cattle, wild birds, poultry or a human that is infected. We would probably know by now if it's dairy cattle, since New Jersey is testing all their milk according to USDA's national program.
A map of the US showing wastewater sample stations and if H5 bird flu was detected.
H5 bird flu found in wastewater in New Jersey and Las Vegas, according to CDC's wastewater program.
New Jersey don't have any known cases of H5N1 bird flu in poultry or dairy cattle.
US awards Moderna $590 million for bird flu vaccine development, according to Reuters.
Kelly Skully, a White House spokesperson, says preparing for biological threats that could lead to another pandemic was a top priority for the Biden Administration. It “should remain one for the health and safety of the American people,” she adds.
After Trump is sworn in as President on Monday, the OPPR office will continue to operate, but the kind of staffing and resources it will have remains unclear.
The White House office has also worked closely with other countries on the global response to outbreaks of the deadly Marburg virus, mpox, and Lassa Fever.
“The outbreak only highlights the urgency for having an office like this,” said a pandemic expert familiar with the office’s bird flu preparations who requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Trump officials who may think otherwise.
and has been working with Moderna to tee up an mRNA vaccine in case the virus mutates again and becomes more transmissible.
The White House’s pandemic office has also laid the groundwork for a vaccine response to a potential bird flu pandemic. It has overseen payments to pharmaceutical companies to stockpile millions more doses of the standard H5N1 vaccine in case it is needed,
“While CDC reports that the risk to the general public is low, keeping communities healthy, safe, and informed remains a top and urgent priority,” Friedrichs said.
OPPR also worked with states to expand the surveillance of batches of milk coming out of dairies, to help detect signs of infected cows.
The federal response has included monitoring large farm operations for bird flu outbreaks, reimbursing farmers for killing infected livestock to stop the spread, and sending protective gear to states where there have been outbreaks among livestock.
Friedrichs, OPPR’s outgoing director, said in a statement to TIME that the office “stood up—and continues to coordinate with—an interagency response team to protect public health, protect our Nation’s food supply, and monitor all trends to prevent the spread of avian flu.”
As the bird flu cases have popped up in multiple states, the pandemic office has organized the federal response across multiple government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
Since Congress formally authorized the current version of the office, Trump can’t completely eliminate it on his own, like he did in 2018. But he could starve it of resources and not name senior leaders to run it, which would tank its effectiveness.
The office cost about $2 million dollars to run last year, according to a Biden Administration official. Last year, Biden called on Congress to appropriate $6.2 million to beef up staffing in 2025.
OPPR works to coordinate efforts across federal agencies and with state governments to ensure “no balls are dropped,” said a Biden administration official. “Not having a group that focuses on that would be a mistake.”
Biden administration officials tell TIME they are concerned that Trump’s White House won’t invest enough time and energy into staving off the next pandemic.
Asked if he would once again disband a pandemic office if he returned to the White House, Trump said, “Yeah, I probably would, because I think we've learned a lot and we can mobilize.”
Biden’s first executive order as president in 2021 restored the office, and Congress added more resources and formally named it the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. But Trump told TIME in April that he saw that office as a “way of giving out pork.”
As the pandemic widened that year, Trump claimed the virus would “go away without a vaccine” and suggested during a White House press briefing that the virus could be neutralized by injecting bleach.
Trump eliminated a similar White House office after he became president in 2017, a move that health experts argued contributed to the federal government’s erratic response in 2020 during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the uncertain future of OPPR, which is seen by some as the tip of the spear of the federal government's pandemic response, is also raising concerns. Trump’s transition team did not respond to multiple requests for comment about his plans for the pandemic office.
His pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic with a history of spreading false medical theories, as his health secretary has drawn the most attention.
For months, health experts have been concerned about what Donald Trump's victory would mean for the federal government's pandemic planning apparatus.
