A friend of mine just moved from Public Health Director of our county to Deputy Director of One Health for the state, a loss for the county but a win for him and for the state. Washington is keeping in touch directly and discretely on H5N1 by text message with our farm workers, who are majority migrant workers of varied status and hard to reach through other channels.
Also, on the plane, I thought of you when we were given a biosecurity form. Brenda has a wetsuit for the race and I a mask and snorkel, all washed in clean water before we left. I declared them and got a big thank you from the biosecurity officer at the airport.
Thanks John. I'm glad Washington is looking out for the farm workers. They are so important but often seem to be left out of things.
Biosecurity staff love it when people have put the time in to checking what they need to do and declare everything. I hope you are enjoying your time here.
Thanks Melanie - I actually found that Venn diagram about one health a bit of a revelation. Of course, I understood that human, environmental, and animal health are related, but for decades now we've been led to believe that simply the "right combination of technology and progress" will allow us to isolate ourselves from the rest of that diagram - it's just a matter of time and effort. But, seeing the deceptive simplicity of the interactions, it is clear how naive and insane it is to think any amount of progress will ever actually detach us from our fundamental reality, because these interactions cause the environmental and animal interactions to simply evolve right alongside us.
Thanks Tim. It is helpful, isn't it. I think that we exist in a society where the prevailing view of the world is of a place where the environment can be manipulated into delivering what we want from it. But nature isn't so obliging and I hope that more people will begin to understand that.
Loved your illustrations. They were very informative! I can remember all the way back to my youth feeling I didn't draw very well. What a waste! I think it is actually quite the same as singing or playing an instrument. There's joy in just doing. We all learned something from the illustrations! I especially enjoyed the action of the sheep.
This was a good PSA. The H5N1 virus in the US has continued to gain momentum and this will be the third winter of its duration. My understanding is its adaptation to survive winters is very concerning with more than 100M layer hens culled thus far. There have been limited reports of jumps to both hogs and dairy cows. Thus far they've isolated humans but in flu season, someone with reduced immune system often host the mutation that makes the jump to humans easier.
I figure it will be the peak of irony for all the true believers in the incoming administration who are "vaccine hesistant" and want people to have the "freedom" to drink raw milk. A potent combination of stupidity and mysticism. It will be interesting if the new thought leaders decide it would be best to vaccinate hens. Eggsellent policy.
Great graphics, Melanie!
A friend of mine just moved from Public Health Director of our county to Deputy Director of One Health for the state, a loss for the county but a win for him and for the state. Washington is keeping in touch directly and discretely on H5N1 by text message with our farm workers, who are majority migrant workers of varied status and hard to reach through other channels.
Also, on the plane, I thought of you when we were given a biosecurity form. Brenda has a wetsuit for the race and I a mask and snorkel, all washed in clean water before we left. I declared them and got a big thank you from the biosecurity officer at the airport.
Thanks John. I'm glad Washington is looking out for the farm workers. They are so important but often seem to be left out of things.
Biosecurity staff love it when people have put the time in to checking what they need to do and declare everything. I hope you are enjoying your time here.
Thanks Melanie - I actually found that Venn diagram about one health a bit of a revelation. Of course, I understood that human, environmental, and animal health are related, but for decades now we've been led to believe that simply the "right combination of technology and progress" will allow us to isolate ourselves from the rest of that diagram - it's just a matter of time and effort. But, seeing the deceptive simplicity of the interactions, it is clear how naive and insane it is to think any amount of progress will ever actually detach us from our fundamental reality, because these interactions cause the environmental and animal interactions to simply evolve right alongside us.
Thanks Tim. It is helpful, isn't it. I think that we exist in a society where the prevailing view of the world is of a place where the environment can be manipulated into delivering what we want from it. But nature isn't so obliging and I hope that more people will begin to understand that.
Loved your illustrations. They were very informative! I can remember all the way back to my youth feeling I didn't draw very well. What a waste! I think it is actually quite the same as singing or playing an instrument. There's joy in just doing. We all learned something from the illustrations! I especially enjoyed the action of the sheep.
This was a good PSA. The H5N1 virus in the US has continued to gain momentum and this will be the third winter of its duration. My understanding is its adaptation to survive winters is very concerning with more than 100M layer hens culled thus far. There have been limited reports of jumps to both hogs and dairy cows. Thus far they've isolated humans but in flu season, someone with reduced immune system often host the mutation that makes the jump to humans easier.
I figure it will be the peak of irony for all the true believers in the incoming administration who are "vaccine hesistant" and want people to have the "freedom" to drink raw milk. A potent combination of stupidity and mysticism. It will be interesting if the new thought leaders decide it would be best to vaccinate hens. Eggsellent policy.