Egg shortages and skyrocketing grocery prices continue to affect American consumers as a result of the historic avian flu that is rapidly spreading among wild birds. Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classified the recent bird flu as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and issued a warning to poultry producers that “Infected wild birds may show no signs of illness. When migrating, they can spread the disease to new areas, potentially exposing domestic poultry to the virus.”
HPAI has been detected in all 50 U.S. states, with Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, Oregon, and California among the top ten states with confirmed wild bird deaths, though Florida leads the country in bird deaths with 379, according to USDA data.