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Bird flu jumped from cows to people. Now advocates want more farmworkers tested

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Bird flu jumped from cows to people. Now advocates want more farmworkers tested

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A strain of bird flu that imperiled California poultry and cattle has jumped to people. In humans, the symptoms are mild and the virus has not been transmitted among people.

In the heart of California’s dairy country, workers kitted in respirators, face shields and gloves are grappling with one of the largest bird flu outbreaks in history. California has reported 16 human cases of bird flu this month, and worker advocates say the state isn’t doing enough to protect dairy workers. 

Only 39 people have been tested for H5N1, the strain of bird flu ravaging herds of cattle, according to the California Department of Public Health. California’s confirmed cases of sick workers account for almost all of the country’s cattle-to-human transmissions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Human cases in California have been mild with no hospitalizations, officials say. Sick workers have reported flu-like symptoms in addition to pink eye. There have been no documented cases of human-to-human transmission, state health officials say, and the general public’s risk is low. 

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The current bird flu surveillance strategy places the majority of the responsibility on farmers to self-report disease among animals and employees, which is problematic, said Elizabeth Strater, a spokesperson for United Farm Workers.

“Workers are actively avoiding testing, I can assure you,” Strater said. “We have heard directly from farmworker communities and veterinarians that they can see that there are workers out there who are sick.”

Workers, who are often low-income, can’t afford the 10-day isolation period with no pay if they are positive, Strater said.

Millions of poultry have been slaughtered since the virus first took hold in California farms two years ago, and this year the highly transmissible virus jumped to cattle, posing a new threat to those who work with the animals. 

Authorities have confirmed bird flu infections at 178 California dairies since it first emerged in August, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture, and there is no sign of infections among cows slowing. The transmission from cows to humans is thought to occur through close and prolonged contact with sick animals. 

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“The most concerning data we have is how little data we have,” Strater said. “Hundreds of herds have tested positive, and the number of people tested is in the dozens — that’s a problem.”

Dr. Erica Pan, chief epidemiologist with the state health department, said close to 5,000 people have been screened for bird flu since February in the course of routine influenza monitoring. 

The difference between testing for bird flu and COVID-19, which required widespread surveillance, Pan said, is that the eye needs to be swabbed, which must be done by a clinician.

“This is about looking for symptoms and then testing for them instead of testing people without symptoms,” Pan said. 

California distributes PPE for bird flu

The state and local health departments are focusing on distributing protective gear and educating workers on how to use it, Pan said. More than 1 million pieces of PPE have been distributed to local health departments and farms, according to the state health department. 

The state also deployed 5,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine for farmworkers. Although that vaccine won’t protect against bird flu, it reduces the chances of a severe coinfection.

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Last week KFF Health News reported farmers in other states have refused to cooperate with local health departments and disease investigators.

Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, said she has not heard of any instances of local employers refusing to cooperate with authorities.

Tulare County, the nation’s largest milk producer, has been the epicenter of the outbreak among cattle and dairy workers, reporting the state’s first human cases in early October. Cases have since been reported in surrounding counties. 

Early in October when temperatures soared above 100 degrees, it was difficult to get workers to don additional protective equipment, said Stever Blattler, but that concern has abated with cooling temperatures.

Dairies surprised by bird flu

The severity of the disease for cattle and its rapid spread among herds caught the industry off-guard, Stever Blattler said, and has had “a huge economic ripple.”

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“Our dairies are really trying to fast-track their learning on the situation,” Stever Blattler said. “They’re trying to create an appropriate and safe workplace, and they’re also trying to increase the care and monitoring of the cattle itself.”

Carrie Monteiro, a spokesperson for Tulare public health, said farmers in the county have cooperated with efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus. 

“They really are reporting and making sure we’re getting the care to their workers and the medication to help their employees recover from this illness,” Monteiro said.

The county has increased its testing capacity to include 15 community doctors, although they are still relying on people with symptoms coming forward. If someone tests positive, they and their household are monitored for 10 days and given antiviral flu medication, Monteiro said.

Still, Strater said she’d like to see the state do more to assure farmworkers, who often work grueling jobs for low pay, that they will be compensated if they get sick on the job. Doing so would encourage workers to come forward if they are sick. The federal government has committed financial assistance to farmers to help pay for lost milk, PPE and measures to prevent infection, but no such offerings have been made to workers.

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According to the state Department of Industrial Relations, workers who get sick with bird flu qualify for workers compensation regardless of immigration status. Employers are required to give employees a workers’ compensation claim form, and they are also required to report cases to the local health department.

“I would like to see public health agencies working together with (industrial relations) and doing a push to reassure people to get tested,” Strater said. “If you test positive, all of your lost wages should be compensated by workers comp.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.



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2 dead, 3 injured in shooting in Louisville’s California neighborhood

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2 dead, 3 injured in shooting in Louisville’s California neighborhood


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Two men are dead and three others injured in a mass shooting in the California neighborhood Saturday night, Louisville Metro Police said.

Second Division officers initially found four men with gunshot wounds in the 2200 block of Garland Avenue when they arrived at 7:30 p.m., LMPD spokesperson John Bradley said in a statement.

Two men were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two were taken to the University of Louisville Hospital for treatment. As of Sunday, one man was in “critical but stable condition,” while the other was in stable condition, Bradley said.

A fifth man was later found in the area, Bradley said Sunday. He was also taken to UofL Hospital, but his condition was unknown.

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Police had not located a suspect Saturday night. LMPD’s homicide unit is investigating, Bradley said. Anyone with information about the shooting could call LMPD’s anonymous tip line at 502-574-5673.

The two men who died have not yet been identified.

Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter

This story has been updated to add video. 



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California man beheaded his 1-year-old son with a knife, authorities say

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California man beheaded his 1-year-old son with a knife, authorities say


SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A man has been arrested on suspicion of beheading his 1-year-old son, Northern California authorities said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday that deputies responding to an early morning family disturbance call found a woman outside a home who told deputies that her husband Andrey Demskiy, 28, assaulted her and her mother.

Deputies forced their way into the house in northern Sacramento County when they learned Demskiy was inside with the boy. As they took him into custody, they found a “severed child’s head” in the bedroom where Demskiy was detained.

Detectives said Demskiy used a knife to behead his son after his wife and mother-in-law left the house, according to the statement. He was in custody and ineligible for bail, and was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

The sheriff’s department and the county public defenders office did not respond to emails seeking information on whether Demskiy had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

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Protests Swept California Campuses Last Year. Schools Are Now Blocking Them | KQED

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Protests Swept California Campuses Last Year. Schools Are Now Blocking Them | KQED


At UC Santa Cruz, police arrested one student who was using a megaphone during a demonstration on Oct. 7, according to an eyewitness who spoke to LookOut Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office public arrest reports show one person was arrested on the Santa Cruz campus for obstruction of a public officer and battery without injury that day.

While no arrests were made, Pomona College has suspended 12 students for the remainder of the 2024–25 academic year following an Oct. 7 demonstration in which they entered, damaged and vandalized a restricted building, according to the student newspaper. The college also banned dozens of students from the four other campuses of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium that includes Pomona.

Private colleges have implemented their own policy changes. Pomona College now requires students and faculty to swipe their ID cards to enter academic buildings. Since last semester, students and visitors entering USC are also required to show a school or photo ID.

Some students are still facing charges from last year’s protests

Few charges have been filed after UCLA’s encampment made headlines in April when counterprotesters led an attack on encampment protesters while law enforcement did not intervene for several hours. The following day, 254 people were arrested on charges related to the protest encampment. In October, two additional people were also arrested for participating in the counter-protester violence.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is pursuing three felony cases against individuals arrested at UCLA in relation to violence during last spring’s protests.

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Meanwhile, the city attorney’s office is reviewing 93 misdemeanor cases from USC and 210 from UCLA, according to information it provided to CalMatters last month.

Lilyan Zwirzina, a junior at Cal Poly Humboldt, was among the students arrested in the early morning of April 30 following protesters occupying a campus building and ignoring orders to disperse from the university. Law enforcement took her to Humboldt County Correctional Facility, where she faced four misdemeanor charges, including resisting arrest. Zwirzina thought she’d have to cancel her study abroad semester, which conflicted with the court date she was given.

“I was pretty frustrated and kind of freaked out,” Zwirzina said. Authorities dropped the charges against her in July.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demand police officers go home during a protest outside of Siemens Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata on April 22, 2024. (Mark McKenna/CalMatters)

The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office didn’t pursue charges against 27 of the 39 people arrested, citing insufficient evidence. The 12 remaining cases were referred to the Cal Poly Humboldt Police Department for investigation. Those cases remain under investigation, according to the university.

For 13 people, including students, arrested at Stanford University in June, the Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has not pressed charges as of Nov. 20, according to information his office provided CalMatters.

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Elsewhere across the state, some district attorneys are pursuing misdemeanor and felony charges against student protesters. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is pursuing misdemeanor charges against 50 people, including two UCI professors, a teaching assistant, and 26 students, stemming from a protest at UC Irvine on Oct. 22, 2023. Charges include failure to disperse, resisting arrest and vandalism.

At Pomona College, 19 students were arrested on April 5 on charges of trespassing after some protesters entered and refused to leave an administrative building. Students arrested either had their cases dismissed or have accepted community service in lieu of further legal action. James Gutierrez, the attorney representing the arrested students, said he asked that the college drop charges against its students, citing their right to protest the use of paid tuition dollars.

“They are righteously demanding that their colleges, the ones they pay tuition to and housing fees and pour a lot of money into, that that university or college stop investing in companies that are directly supporting this genocide and indirectly supporting it,” he said.

Students fight back against campus protest policies

As administrators face the challenge of applying protest policies more uniformly and swiftly, the truer test of California public higher education institutions’ protest rules will be playing out in court.

In one already resolved case, UC leadership agreed in August to comply with a court order requiring the campus to end programs or events that exclude Jewish students. A federal judge ruled some Jewish students in support of Israel who were blocked from entering the encampment had their religious liberties violated — though some Jewish students did participate in UCLA’s protest encampment.

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Now, students have filed at least two lawsuits against their campuses and the UC system for violating their rights while ending student encampments last spring. In September, ACLU NorCal filed suits against the UC and UC Santa Cruz for not providing students due process when they immediately barred arrested students from returning to campus.

“Those students should have gotten a hearing, an opportunity to defend themselves or to explain themselves, and the school would have shown evidence of why they created a risk of disturbance on campus,” Chessie Thacher, senior staff attorney at ACLU of Northern California, said.

UC Santa Cruz spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said the university “appreciates the court’s careful deliberation” and that the university “is committed to upholding the right to free expression while also protecting the safety of its campus community.”

In October, ACLU SoCal filed lawsuits on behalf of two students and two faculty members against the UC and UCLA, alleging the actions the university took to break down the encampment violated their free speech rights.

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez told CalMatters via email that the university would respond in court and that UCLA “fully supports community members expressing their First Amendment rights in ways that do not violate the law, our policies, jeopardize community safety, or disrupt the functioning of the university.”

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“The encampment that arose on campus this spring became a focal point for violence, a disruption to campus, and was in violation of the law,” Vazquez said in the email statement. “These conditions necessitated its removal.”





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