While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that human infections of bird flu are rare, the most recent outbreak is affecting Wyoming’s grocery prices — and people’s holiday dinners.
Millions of chickens and turkeys have been killed and disposed of at poultry farms while dairy farms have been quarantined.
It may take years for farmers to build back up their flocks and herds.
As a result, retailers across the state are scrambling to make sure that they can meet the demand for eggs, poultry and milk this holiday season.
“In our region, a major supplier was impacted by avian flu a couple of times in recent years,” Eric Mackay told Cowboy State Daily. He is the owner of Mack’s Market, a small retail store in Thermopolis.
“We are seeing the prices fluctuate dramatically as areas in the nation become further impacted, simply because the market is experiencing difficulty stabilizing itself from multiple catastrophic events.”
The Supply/Demand Effect
Suppliers were forced to cull entire populations of birds and now are working to replace these flocks from birds in unaffected regions.
Mackay is hopeful that this proactive approach will help to stabilize the affected market rather quickly and prices will continue to drop. However, he was told that previously unaffected flocks have just been hit with the bird flu which has set the industry back once more.
There is the concern that the scarcity mindset will lead to a run on the groceries in stores, much like the great toilet paper run during COVID.
“When factors such as scarcity, fear, and buying limits begin to impact a market,” Mackay said, “the predictability of purchases becomes nearly impossible to calculate.”
His goal is to keep his store stocked and keep the prices as low as possible.
In most cases, he said, the supply chain will recover by buying birds from unaffected areas. However, it is never an overnight recovery for retailers and suppliers.
The consumer as well will continue to experience a higher price in the grocery stores because there are costs related to building back up the flocks.
“Most likely the supplier will have to pay an increase in shipping cost to cover bringing product from farther away regions,” Mackay said.
This added cost will, ultimately, be passed on to the stores and consumers.
(Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
(Getty Images)
Contracting Bird Flu
On Dec. 18, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to the spike in avian flu cases in his state. On the same day the CDC confirmed a person in Louisiana had been hospitalized with a ‘‘severe’’ case of the disease.
The CDC said that infected birds shed bird flu viruses in their saliva, mucous and feces. They stress that bird flu infections among people are rare.
Human infections, such as the case in Louisiana, can happen when enough virus gets into a person's eyes, nose, or mouth or is inhaled. People with close or lengthy unprotected contact with infected birds or places that sick birds or their mucous, saliva, or feces have touched, may be at greater risk of bird flu virus infection.
Illnesses in people from bird flu virus infections have ranged from mild such as eye infections and upper respiratory symptoms to severe illness such as pneumonia that can result in death.
The spread of bird flu viruses from one infected person to a close contact is very rare, and when it has happened, it has not led to continued spread among people.
The main impact Wyoming residents will feel from the bird flu is in the grocery aisles when buying their eggs and milk.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
