Trump administration’s communication freeze restricted access to critical bird flu information

For the last four years, the H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu, has been ravaging wild bird populations, spilling over into other species and infecting poultry and dairy cows. At least 67 human cases have been reported, each one slightly raising the chances of another pandemic like COVID-19. Researchers and public health officials have been putting forth efforts to better understand how bird flu is passed between species to keep it from mutating into something that could become a virus with pandemic potential. 

However, the Trump administration has blocked the release of some of the information used to protect against H5N1 and understand this risk, including studies that show how frequently veterinarians who treat cows had been unknowingly infected.

Veterinarians and public health officials say this and other information frozen in the “immediate pause” on communication issued by the Trump admin that has caused widespread chaos and confusion in federal agencies is critical to ensure that bird flu doesn’t spiral out of control and turn into a full-blown pandemic.

“There was a serology study that was going to be reported about veterinarians with direct contact to cattle,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University. “That would be very interesting information because many of us that are working in this space have suspicions that there are undetected spillovers happening.” 

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In California, by and large the nation’s largest supplier of milk, as well as the epicenter of the bird flu crisis, more than 70% of dairy herds have been infected. Roughly half of the bird flu infections that have occurred in humans in the U.S. to date have occurred in people working on dairy farms in California. Earlier this month, the first human death in this bird flu outbreak was reported in Louisiana, though this person was exposed through a backyard flock.

“We want to know what the risk is here, especially with this new highly pathogenic avian influenza strain now being reported at a California duck farm, H5N9,” said Crystal Heath, a veterinarian and executive director of Our Honor, a nonprofit that supports veterinarians. “Are we at a higher risk than even dairy workers because of the nature of our work? Should we be ramping up PPE [personal protective equipment]?”

The results of these studies were due to be presented in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which has not missed a publication since it began. Other results from a study exploring whether the virus could be transmitted to pet cats was also scheduled to be presented but was not, as reported by KFF Health News.

The delays come as a result of a memo sent during President Donald Trump’s first day in office, in which the acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Dorothy Fink asked that no information be shared with the public and no engaging in any public speaking events until they have “been reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee.”

The Trump Administration also issued a memo that froze federal funding for research programs, schools, and other organizations that rely on federal dollars only to rescind it a couple of days later.

In a statement, a CDC spokesperson told Salon that the HHS issued that this was a “short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization,” and that exceptions can be made to this announcement but that those will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Together, the flurry of action from the White House in Trump’s first week of office also led to the cancellation of various scientific meetings and led to delays and confusion for researchers in the process of getting grants approved to study things like bird flu. 

Experts say the communications freeze comes at a time when surveillance and public outreach should be increasing due to the continued spread of bird flu across the country. The recent appearance of the new strain of bird flu, H5N9 in ducks in California, is the latest development that shows the virus is changing in pertinent ways. That’s because this indicates that the virus has most likely already undergone a process of viral reassortment, in which the virus evolves into becoming something more dangerous to humans.

“The [Trump administration] said the pause is to set up a process for review and prioritization of communication,” Heath told Salon in a phone interview. “But based on Trump’s handling of COVID-19 during the prior administration, I am worried that their process for review and prioritization could pose an even greater threat to public health.”