Bird Flu Is Spreading. Did We Learn Nothing From Covid?

By Zeynep Tufekci

Produced by Vishakha Darbha

American dairy cows have been contracting avian flu, and inactive traces of the virus have been found in milk supplies across the country. The spread to humans has been very limited, but the Times Opinion columnist Zeynep Tufekci argues that hoping for good luck is not a strategy for responding to potential pandemics and that government agencies need to do a better job of coordinating, testing and reporting their findings quickly.

(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.)

Credit…Illustration by Akshita Chandra/The New York Times; Photograph by Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

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This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek and Annie-Rose Strasser. Mixing by Carole Sabouraud. Original music by Sonia Herrero and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta.

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