GREELEY, Colo. \u2014 In early August, farmworkers gathered under a pavilion at a park here for a picnic to celebrate Farmworker Appreciation Day. One sign that this year was different from the others was the menu: Beef fajitas, tortillas, pico de gallo, chips, beans \u2014 but no chicken.<\/p>\n
Farms in Colorado had culled millions<\/a> of chickens in recent months to stem the transmission of bird flu. Organizers filled out the spread with hot dogs.<\/p>\n No matter the menu, some dairy workers at the event said they don\u2019t exactly feel appreciated. They said they haven\u2019t received any personal protective equipment beyond gloves to guard against the virus, even as they or colleagues have come down with conjunctivitis and flu-like symptoms that they fear to be bird flu.<\/p>\n \u201cThey should give us something more,\u201d one dairy worker from Larimer County said in Spanish. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear he\u2019d lose his job for speaking out. \u201cWhat if something happens to us? They act as if nothing is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Agricultural health and safety experts have been trying to get the word out about how to protect against bird flu, including through bilingual videos<\/a> on TikTok showing the proper way to gear up with respirators, eye protection, gloves, and coveralls. And Colorado\u2019s health and agriculture departments have offered a free month\u2019s supply<\/a> of protective equipment to any producer who requests it.<\/p>\n But so far, many farms aren\u2019t taking them up on it: According to numbers provided by the state health department in late August, fewer than 13% of the state\u2019s dairies<\/a> had requested and received such PPE.<\/p>\n The virus is known to infect mammals \u2014 from skunks, bears, and cows to people and house pets<\/a>. It began showing up in dairy cattle<\/a> in recent months, and Colorado has been in the thick of it. Ten of the 13 confirmed human cases in the U.S. this year have occurred in Colorado, where it continues to circulate<\/a> among dairy cows. It isn\u2019t a risk in cooked meat or pasteurized milk but is risky for those who come into contact with infected animals or raw milk.<\/p>\n Weld County, where the farmworker event was held, is one of the nation\u2019s top milk producers<\/a>, supplying enough milk each month this year to fill about 45 Olympic-size swimming pools, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data<\/a>. Neighboring counties are notable producers, too.<\/p>\n Concerns are growing about undiagnosed illness among farmworkers<\/a> because of a lack of testing and safety precautions. One reason for concern: Bird flu and seasonal flu are capable of gene trading<\/a>, so if they ended up in the same body at the same time, bird flu might end up with genes that boost its contagiousness. The virus doesn\u2019t appear to be spreading easily between people yet. That could change, and if people aren\u2019t being tested then health officials may be slow to notice.<\/p>\n Strains of seasonal flu already kill some 47,000 people<\/a> in the U.S. a year. Public health officials fear the havoc a new form of the flu could wreak if it spreads among people.<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that dairy workers don a respirator and goggles or a face shield, among other protections<\/a>, whether they are working with sick animals or not.<\/p>\n A recent study<\/a> found that not all infected cows show symptoms, so workers could be interacting with contagious animals without realizing it. Even when it is known that animals are infected, farmworkers often still have to get in close contact with them, sometimes under grueling conditions, such as during a recent heat wave when Colorado poultry workers collected hundreds of chickens<\/a> by hand for culling because of the outbreak. At least six of the workers became infected with bird flu.<\/p>\n One dairy worker in Weld County, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said his employer has not offered any protective equipment beyond gloves, even though he works with sick cows and raw milk.<\/p>\n His bosses asked the workers to separate sick cows from the others after some cows produced less milk, lost weight, and showed signs of weakness, he said. But the employer didn\u2019t say anything about the bird flu, he said, or suggest they take any precautions for their own safety.<\/p>\n He said he bought protective goggles for himself at Walmart when his eyes became itchy and red earlier this summer. He recalled experiencing dizziness, headaches, and low appetite around the same time. But he self-medicated and pushed through, without missing work or going to a doctor.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to protect ourselves because you never know,\u201d he said in Spanish. \u201cI tell my wife and son that the cows are sick, and she tells me to leave, but it will be the same wherever I go.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he\u2019d heard that his employers were unsympathetic when a colleague approached them about feeling ill. He\u2019d even seen someone affiliated with management remove a flyer about how people can protect themselves from the bird flu and throw it in a bin.<\/p>\n The dairy worker in neighboring Larimer County said he, too, has had just gloves as protection, even when he has worked with sick animals \u2014 close enough for saliva to wipe off on him. He started working with them when a colleague missed work because of his flu-like symptoms: fever, headache, and red eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cI only wear latex gloves,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I see that those who work with the cows that are sick also only wear gloves.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he doesn\u2019t have time to wash his hands at work but puts on hand sanitizer before going home and takes a shower once he arrives. He has not had symptoms of infection.<\/p>\n Such accounts from dairy workers echo those from farmworkers in Texas, as reported by KFF Health News<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n \u201cEmployers who are being proactive and providing PPE seem to be in the minority in most states,\u201d said Bethany Boggess Alcauter<\/a> with the National Center for Farmworker Health, a not-for-profit organization based in Texas that advocates for improving the health of farmworkers and their families. \u201cFarmworkers are getting very little information.\u201d<\/p>\n But Zach Riley<\/a>, CEO of the Colorado Livestock Association, said he thinks such scenarios are the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would be hard-pressed to find a dairy operation that isn\u2019t providing that PPE,\u201d he said. Riley said dairies typically have a stockpile of PPE ready to go for situations like this and that, if they don\u2019t, it\u2019s easily accessed through the state. \u201cAll you have to do is ask.\u201d<\/p>\n Producers are highly motivated to keep infections down, he said, because \u201cmilk is their life source.\u201d He said he has heard from some producers that \u201ctheir family members who work on the farm are doing 18-to 20-hour days just to try to stay ahead of it, so that they\u2019re the first line between everything, to protect their employees.\u201d<\/p>\n Colorado\u2019s health department is advertising a hotline<\/a> that ill dairy workers can call for help getting a flu test and medicine.<\/p>\n Project Protect Food Systems Workers<\/a>, an organization that emerged early in the covid-19 pandemic to promote farmworker health across Colorado, is distributing PPE it received from the state so promotoras \u2014 health workers who are part of the community<\/a> they serve \u2014 can distribute masks and other protections directly to workers if employers aren\u2019t giving them out.<\/p>\n Promotora Tomasa Rodriguez said workers \u201csee it as another virus, another covid, but it is because they don\u2019t have enough information.\u201d<\/p>\n She has been passing out flyers about symptoms and protective measures, but she can\u2019t access many dairies. \u201cAnd in some instances,\u201d she said, \u201ca lot of these workers don\u2019t know how to read, so the flyers are not reaching them, and then the employers are not doing any kind of talks or trainings.\u201d<\/p>\n The CDC\u2019s Nirav Shah<\/a> said during an Aug. 13 call with journalists that awareness about bird flu among dairy workers isn\u2019t as high as officials would like it to be, despite months of campaigns on social media and the radio.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a road ahead of us that we still need to go down to get awareness on par with, say, what it might be in the poultry world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re using every single messenger that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n KFF Health News correspondents Vanessa G. S\u00e1nchez and Amy Maxmen contributed to this report.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company<\/a> and KFF Health News<\/a>. Sign up for their newsletters here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n