NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Seven cases of bird flu were found in poultry during routine inspections at live bird markets in New York City this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday, as health officials said the state has ample testing capacity for humans if necessary.
Hochul said New York state is temporarily shutting down all live bird markets in the five boroughs, as well as Long Island and Westchester, through next Friday. That's about 80 facilities across eight counties.
"No poultry shall be delivered to live bird markets or distributors covered by this Order from February 7, 2025 through February 14, 2025," the three-page order to businesses reads. In addition to closing, the markets must undergo cleaning and disinfection.
The move is being made “out of an abundance of caution and to thwart any further transmission,” Hochul said.
“For a week-long period, no poultry can be delivered to those live bird markets,” the governor said. “Each un-infected market must sell down all inventory, undergo thorough cleaning and disinfection, and then remain closed for at least five days. Each must then be inspected by our state Ag and Markets before they can reopen.”
Surveillance testing at live bird markets first detected H5N1, or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), at a market in Queens on Jan. 31 and then at a market in the Bronx on Feb. 3. Additional detections were made in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens on Feb. 4.
Hochul said people shouldn’t be concerned and that “there is no immediate public health threat.”
“We have been vigilant and will remain vigilant so New Yorkers can go about their lives with peace of mind,” she said.
The city Health Department has already instructed exposed individuals to monitor for signs of illness. The department will test anyone with symptoms and offer them Tamiflu as a preventative medication if appropriate, officials said.
New York state's acting commissioner of health, Dr. James McDonald, said the H5N1 strain has so far not demonstrated the ability to easily transmit to humans, though it is very contagious among birds, often leading to the culling of entire flocks.
McDonald said the state is using “all tools at our disposal to monitor for avian influenza in human beings” and “at this time, there’s no human cases of avian influenza that have been diagnosed in New York.”
The commissioner said the state laboratory has “substantial additional surge capacity” for testing “in the event of emergency, which is right now, simply not the case.”
“We’re prepared for widespread testing, should the need arise,” he said.
New York state has been monitoring avian flu in poultry since 2022 and has been working with federal health officials to investigate cases and restrict the importation of some animals into the state.
There have been 67 bird flu cases in the U.S. since 2022, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The people most at risk for the virus are those directly in contact with infected farm animals.
The first bird flu death in the U.S. was reported last month in Louisiana, with health officials saying the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.
Bird flu has forced U.S. farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing egg prices to more than double their cost since 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight with Easter approaching.
The average price per dozen eggs nationwide hit $4.15 in December. The Agriculture Department predicts egg prices are going to soar another 20% this year.
Elizabeth Wolters, the deputy commissioner for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, said Friday that getting farms to enhance their biosecurity should help get product to market in New York, but "unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of detections in poultry across the country [...] so there really is a market constriction on availability of eggs and poultry."