California Public Health Officials Dipping Into Stockpiles To Equip Farmworkers With Safety Gear Amid Rise In Bird Flu Cases

KFF Health News (11/14, Thompson) reports, “California public health officials are dipping into state and federal stockpiles to equip up to 10,000 farmworkers with masks, gloves, goggles, and other safety gear as the state confirms at least 21 human cases of bird flu as of early November.” The state “is putting a number of lessons from the covid-19 pandemic to use, such as coordinating emergency response with local health officials and tracking infectious diseases through wastewater surveillance, as the state tries to limit the spread of bird flu to humans.” California is “striving to maintain an adequate emergency stockpile to withstand the first wave of any new public health disaster without hemorrhaging the state budget.”