United States: A majority of the U.S dairy farms currently do not upgrade health precautions for the employee during an outbreak amongst cows as observed by workers, activists, and farmers, which has raised concern among health practitioners on increased possible human infections of a virus that has potential to cause a pandemic.
Experts are concerned about the virus’s abilities
Epidemiologists are worried that the virus might become capable of spreading and cause serious illnesses, and while farmers are less concerned about the risk to workers, employees are hardly informed of the instances of US cattle.
The authorities of the United States declared on Wednesday that the second employee of a dairy company contracted bird flu since cattle did it in the middle of March and that nobody knew if the man used or was offered any protective equipment, as Reuters reported.
Advise to adhere to government guidelines
Approximately twenty-four thousand farms produce milk that is distributed across the United States, and the measures they provide for employees differ.
The National Milk Producers Federation which is a lobby group argued that it advised farms to adhere to federal guidelines which included protective gear for workers and annulled news of increased worker protections.
Seven protestors, three workers, and two attorneys for farm employees, interviewed by Reuters, said that the bosses did not provide helmets, goggles, and shields for people who work for 10-12 hours beside cows.
Three large dairy corporations with tens of thousands of milch animals did not want to discuss their method.
The workers, all of them employed at dairy operations in New York and important dairy producers, learned about the new disease threatening their animals through the news or from community mobilizers, not their employers. For instance, one 39-year-old Luis Jimenez, a foreign worker from Mexico, commented, ‘As I recall, last week it was usual business.’
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in April and May, sent alerts for workers to use personal protective equipment (PPE) if getting exposed to sick livestock after a Texas dairy worker case came to light, got contracted with bird flu, as Reuters reported.
Therefore, on May 6, the health agency asked states to make equipment available to workers.
The CDC urged “to make sure that farm workers across the country, whether they are at a farm with an affected herd or not, have access to PPE,” said Nirav Shah, principal deputy director.