Maryland

Bird flu outbreak has reached Maryland: How concerned should we be?

Published

1 year ago

January 20, 2025

Bird flu outbreak has reached Maryland: How concerned should we be?

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The widening U.S. bird flu outbreak has made its way to Maryland, which has counted two cases on commercial poultry farms—one in Caroline County and another in Queen Anne’s County—since the start of the year.

Health experts say the general public is at little risk of exposure and illness, thus far. While human infections of this H5N1 avian influenza can be deadly, there have been no confirmed cases of human-to-human spread.

“The general public should have very little concern unless they’re involved in what we know are high-risk activities, one being working on poultry farms” and another being drinking raw, unpasteurized milk, said Andy Pekosz, an expert on respiratory viruses and emerging diseases at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“On the flip side, biologists like myself are very concerned about the situation,” he said. “There have been way too many outbreaks in dairy cow farms. It’s spread across way too many states.”

As of this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 67 U.S. cases of bird flu infections in humans since 2024, none in Maryland. One person, a 65-year-old Louisiana man with underlying health conditions, died after he was likely exposed to the virus from wild birds and a non-commercial backyard flock, the Louisiana Department of Health reported earlier this month.

The CDC on Thursday also called on hospitals to test patients they believe may have the bird flu, particularly those in intensive care units.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced earlier this month that it has awarded $306 million to monitor this outbreak and prepare for more human infections. More than half of that will go to regional, state and local programs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed 928 dairy herd infections in 16 states, mostly California. More than 12 million birds also have been affected in the last 30 days, including 54 commercial flocks and 55 backyard flocks, according to the USDA.

For now, Maryland’s dairy cows have not been affected, according to the state Department of Agriculture. Infected commercial chicken farms in the state have culled tens of thousands of infected chickens. They were likely infected by wild, migrating birds, said Jennifer Trout, the Maryland State Veterinarian.

No infected meat or eggs got into the food supply, Trout said.

“I don’t really have the ability to control Mother Nature in the flyway. But luckily for us, we’ve got a really good (disease monitoring) system in place,” she said. “These animals are tested through routine surveillance, pre-harvesting testing.”

How dangerous is the bird flu?

Earlier avian flu outbreaks have proven especially deadly for humans, causing roughly half of the infected to die. This current version of avian flu seems to be less dangerous, causing mild respiratory illness and conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye, according to the CDC.

Other symptoms include coughing, fever, muscle aches and fatigue. Symptoms usually last up to two weeks. More severe cases can cause pneumonia, organ damage, septic shock and death. It’s not clear how long people are contagious, but scientists believe it’s similar to regular, seasonal influenza, according to the CDC.

“To date, there has been only one death in the entire U.S. due to avian flu. For comparison of risk, there are likely to be at least 10,000 deaths due to seasonal influenza in the US this year,” said Dr. George Rust with the Florida State University College of Medicine.

“CDC data show that in Maryland, there have been 141 deaths due to COVID-19 in the past three months.” (The state of Maryland reported 186 COVID-19 deaths between Oct. 14 and Jan. 14, the most current data available.)

Antiviral drugs are the recommended treatment for anyone testing positive for the bird flu.

What’s different about this outbreak?

Human infection by the H5N1 avian flu first emerged a generation ago, though other strains of bird-infecting flu have been recorded for about 150 years. Public health experts say this outbreak is different in that it’s spreading quickly among mammals, which are genetically more similar to humans than birds.

That, they say, could eventually lead to a mutated strain that would allow avian flu to spread among humans. Someone could also be infected by the normal flu and the bird flu at the same time, allowing H5N1 to “swap genes” and create a mutation leading to human-to-human transmission. That would become the next pandemic.

“Should the bird flu virus pick up the capacity to readily infect people, then I’m afraid we would have, once again, a large pandemic with much illness, infections of people who are older and frail and immunocompromised and the very young,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University and one of the nation’s leading experts in infectious diseases.

“That would be followed by a substantial number of deaths but unlikely to be at the 50% level. It would be more like what we see with seasonal flu.”

House pets can get sick or die if they eat a dead or infected bird or drink unpasteurized milk.

How safe is the food supply?

Aside from widespread testing on farms, cooking poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees kills all bacteria and viruses, including the bird flu. The same applies to cooking ground beef to 160 degrees and whole cuts of beef to 145 degrees, according to the CDC.

There are no known cases of people in the United States getting avian flu from eating properly cooked and handled food. Though some cases have emerged in Southeast Asia, likely because of exposure to poultry blood, according to the World Health Organization.

Similarly, pasteurization makes drinking milk safe.

“Pasteurization protects the milk supply from viral contamination, as well as from many other infectious diseases,” said Rust, the FSU College of Medicine professor. “H5N1 virus has been found in high concentrations in milk from infected dairy cattle, so consuming raw milk, or unpasteurized cheese or yogurt, creates unnecessary risk.”

Are there vaccines and treatments?

The United States has stores of vaccines against an earlier variant of the bird flu and is now making more that should be even more effective against the variants currently circulating, Schaffner said. Studies are also underway to develop vaccines that would work in dairy cows, he said.

Seasonal flu vaccines alone are not effective against bird flu, according to the CDC.

“The government is stockpiling millions of doses of a vaccine for avian flu and is funding the development of new mRNA vaccines as well,” Rust said. “We need to maintain a robust public health infrastructure to prevent such outbreaks rather than gearing up after a pandemic has begun.”

2025 Baltimore Sun. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Maryland

Gas prices surge in Maryland, provoking debate on what to do about it

Published

9 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Gas prices surge in Maryland, provoking debate on what to do about it

Gas prices in Maryland are rising following joint U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Iran.
The average price for gasoline in Maryland has reached $3.86 per gallon, an increase of over 25 cents in the last week.
Maryland officials are debating a potential gas tax suspension to provide relief to consumers.

Gas prices are surging in Maryland, and state officials are beginning to weigh in on a potential gas tax suspension.

The price jump occured after the United States and Israel launched joint military strikes against Iran beginning on Feb. 28, 2026.

Average gasoline prices in Maryland have risen 25.2 cents per gallon within the last week, now averaging $3.86/g, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 2,167 stations in the state.

Prices in Maryland are 87.7 cents per gallon higher than one month ago, and stand 85.1 cents per gallon higher than one year ago, GasBuddy shared.

As of March 25, gas prices in Salisbury are between $3.73/g and $3.99/g. The current lowest reported cost, $3.73/g, was found at Sam’s Club at 2700 North Salisbury Boulevard.

“Gas prices continued to rise nationwide over the last week as seasonal factors, combined with ongoing supply concerns tied to the continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, pushed both gasoline and diesel prices sharply higher,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said.

“It now appears increasingly likely that the national average price of gasoline will reach the $4-per-gallon mark — potentially as early as this week — for the first time since 2022, while diesel prices are surging to multi-year highs, with some markets nearing record territory,” De Haan continued.

Gas price averages in Maryland over the last five years

Here’s a closer look at the historical gasoline prices in Maryland and the national average within the last five years, according to GasBuddy:

March 23, 2025: $3.00/g (U.S. Average: $3.08/g)
March 23, 2024: $3.56/g (U.S. Average: $3.53/g)
March 23, 2023: $3.26/g (U.S. Average: $3.42/g)
March 23, 2022: $3.79/g (U.S. Average: $4.23/g)
March 23, 2021: $2.84/g (U.S. Average: $2.86/g)

Will Maryland suspend its gas tax? Officials weigh in

Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Maryland Govenor Wes Moore, weighed in on the state’s potential gas tax suspension:

“Marylanders need real relief, not a 30-day gas tax suspension that would blow a $100 million hole in our transportation budget at the same time we’re working to close Maryland’s budget shortfall. If Maryland Republicans are serious about lowering costs, they should pick up the phone and call Donald Trump and tell him to end this missionless war — instead of asking Maryland taxpayers to help pay for it.

“This war is costing more than a billion dollars a day and driving up the price of oil, fuel, and everyday goods. The best way to bring prices down is to address the source of the pain, not shift the cost of Donald Trump’s war onto Maryland families.”

Nicole Beus Harris, Chairwoman of the Maryland Republican Party, shared her thoughts next with Delmarva Now:

“We know Wes Moore thinks about the White House 24/7, but his responsibility, just like Republicans in the General Assembly, is to make state policy. A temporary pause of the state gas tax is a commonsense solution to this temporary crisis, but we’ll never see meaningful tax relief under this Governor.”

Are other states suspending their gas tax to cut prices?

As of March 2026, Georgia has become the first and only state to temporarily suspend its gas tax.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, suspended the state’s motor fuel tax for 60 days on March 20. The excise tax on gasoline is currently 33.3 cents per gallon, and a few cents higher on diesel, USA Today reported.

Olivia Minzola covers communities on the Lower Shore. Contact her with tips and story ideas at ominzola@delmarvanow.com.

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Maryland

Rachel Morin’s mother criticizes Gov. Moore for opposing ICE detention center in Maryland

Published

21 hours ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

Rachel Morin’s mother criticizes Gov. Moore for opposing ICE detention center in Maryland

MARYLAND (WBFF) — A legal fight is underway in Washington County over plans to convert a warehouse into an immigration detention center, with Gov. Wes Moore opposing the project and securing a temporary pause in construction.

The Trump administration wants to convert the warehouse into an immigration detention center. Moore has taken the issue to court and obtained a temporary halt. In a public service announcement, Moore called the center “concerning.”

“This is being done without transparency, without public input or accountability. And it’s raising serious concerns from Marylanders, all across our state,” Moore said.

ALSO READ | What’s next for the planned immigration detention center near Hagerstown?

Not all Marylanders agree. Patty Morin criticized Moore on social media and said he is out of touch, also speaking with FOX45 News about her concerns.

“First off, I was just really angry because he is misrepresenting the people of Maryland,” Morin said.

“Last time I looked, statistics said 1.3 million immigrants in Maryland. And you know that some of those are here illegally,” Morin said.

Morin’s daughter, Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was killed by an illegal immigrant in Harford County in August of 2023.

Moore said his administration is prioritizing residents’ concerns as the federal government moves forward.

“While the Trump administration is moving forward without any consideration for Marylanders, we’re putting your concerns front and center,” Moore said.

ALSO READ | Emergency order seeks to stop Washington County ICE detention facility construction

Morin said Moore is not listening to residents and argued the detention center is about enforcing the law, not targeting a specific group.

“He is totally politics over people. He genuinely does not care about the people of Maryland or the constituents that he represents. I all the time, Marylanders are like, what is the matter with this governor? Why is he doing this? It’s ludicrous,” Morin said.

“The very word itself, illegal means against the law or not lawful. And they have broken a federal law. Federal law supersedes state law,” Morin said.

It’s not rocket science.”

Morin also said Moore should consider all Marylanders when making decisions about the proposed facility.

“Marylanders that are here want ICE, want law enforcement to protect us. That’s what we’re paying our taxpayer dollars for. Not for a Governor Moore to go to the courts and fight this imaginary battle because he’s trying to, I don’t know, maybe make points with the Democrat party or something. He’s completely out of touch with Marylanders and it’s just, it’s very upsetting,” Morin said.

The court-ordered pause remains in effect until mid-April. Federal officials will announce next steps after the pause is lifted.

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Maryland

‘Mattresses all over the place’: Maryland begins yearly operation to clean state highways – WTOP News

Published

1 day ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

‘Mattresses all over the place’: Maryland begins yearly operation to clean state highways – WTOP News

In 2025, Maryland spent $16.5 million on litter pickup and debris removal, Charlie Gischlar of the Maryland State Highway Administration said, calling the trash problem “an immense problem.”

This week, the Maryland State Highway Administration is rolling out its yearly “Operation Clean Sweep,” a weeklong program aimed at cleaning up state highways.

The program runs through Friday.

Charlie Gischlar, the deputy director of communications for MDOT SHA, told WTOP, “It’s all hands on deck.”

“It’s going to be SHA crews, contractors and the Department of Corrections folks as well,” Gischlar said. “We do this before the start of the mowing season.”

Gischlar said the program was started a couple of years ago in an effort to deal with “the immense litter problem that we have in the state on the state highway system.”

“We spent last year, in calendar year 2025, more than $16.5 million on litter pickup and debris removal,” Gischlar said. “We’ve gotten about five million pounds of litter and debris last year.”

Crews are picking up more than just fast food bags and water bottles; Gischlar said they found 32 tires and a wooden kitchen table in Howard County.

Along with toys, dolls and sofas, Gischlar pointed out another item that might surprise you: “Bedroom mattresses all over the place.”

“So, you can see that’s an immense problem,” he added.

The state also cleans the state’s highways before big holiday weekends, including Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

“We bring everybody together to beautify the roadsides,” Gischlar said.

If you are driving and see the work crews, Gischlar asks you to “move over when (you) see our crews and slow down.”

“Every year when we see our folks out there picking litter from the side of the road, somebody’s not paying attention or they’re going too fast, and one of our attenuator trucks always gets hit,” he said.

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