Health officials in the nation’s most populous state have seen where the bird flu story seems to be heading, and they are determined to stay ahead of the curve. Whether the rest of the nation will be willing to follow suit remains to be seen.

The same day as the first serious case of avian virus in the United States was leaked in Louisiana, on the other side of the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom said a State of emergency designed to expedite the state’s response to further outbreaks of H5N1, commonly known as avian influenza.

Newsom described the measure as a “targeted action” aimed at giving government agencies the resources they need to respond quickly, including in the areas of testing, surveillance and the distribution of protective equipment to at-risk workers. .

“While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus,” the governor added.

The possibility of large-scale spread of the H5N1 virus to humans has been feared by research experts for some time, but until now no human-to-human transmission of the virus has been documented. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 61 people in the United States. have been confirmed to have the virus, with most of them infected via dairy herds or commercial poultry flocks. California confirmed 34 cases in humans.

The CDC announced Wednesday that a person in Louisiana was hospitalized with a severe case of avian flu infection, the first of its kind after other patients experienced mostly mild symptoms. A spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Health says Fortune that the patient “suffers from a serious respiratory illness linked to infection with the H5N1 virus” and that he is in critical condition.

According to the spokesperson, the patient has underlying health problems and is over 65 years old. The infection is attributed to “a combination of a farmyard, a non-commercial flock and wild birds,” she said.

The revelation of a serious case of H5N1 has renewed calls from experts for a dramatic increase in testing and reporting in the United States. For months, researchers warned that the avian flu epidemic would become a national problem and they worried that the virus could mutate in ways that made human-to-human transmission possible.

Scott Hensley, a viral immunologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, noted that the Louisiana patient was infected with the same H5N1 genotype as a previous patient in British Columbia.

“It is possible that this particular virus has greater potential to adapt and cause serious disease in humans,” says Hensley. The immunologist says he is “looking forward to the sequence data from the Louisiana patient to see if there are any genetic signatures of human adaptation.”

In the meantime, some experts want other states to follow California’s lead.

“Governor. Newsom’s emergency declaration is exactly the right decision,” says Rick Bright, an international expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness. Fortune. “This will place greater priority and resources to improve the response to the H5N1 virus which appears to be spreading without much constraint on the state’s dairy farms. »

The emergency declaration is expected to boost California’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus. State and local agencies have worked for months to keep the public informed and contact farmworkers, including those for whom English is not their first language, with advice on how to stay protected and limit the potential exposure to H5N1 from commercial herds.

Newsom’s office said the state has also distributed “millions of pieces” of personal protective equipment, or PPE, to high-risk workers on dairy farms. California authorities have documented bird flu 645 dairy herds—311 dairies in the last 30 days alone.

The virus has killed more than 123 million birds in the United States since 2022, most on commercial poultry farms.

The Louisiana case is a reminder of the high reach of the H5N1 virus, including, according to Bright, its ability to mutate. “This virus has evolved such that it is now more prevalent in a wider variety of animal species, including mammals,” he says. “The more this virus is around people, the risk of human exposure, infection and serious illness becomes much higher. »

Bright and many other researchers have long sounded the alarm, imploring the federal government to exert all possible pressure on state and local agencies to require farms to test their workers for the virus, take protective measures protection and testing their flocks. However, much of this can only be asked, not demanded.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would begin essay the national milk supply. The USDA has published a federal order requiring raw, unpasteurized milk to be collected and turned over to the USDA upon request, officials said at a press briefing this week.

All of which makes California’s decision Wednesday more remarkable. The emergency declaration frees up more funds to provide local agencies with the means to hire additional staff and enter into contracts to expand testing and other resources to farms.

“We need much greater efforts to reduce the risk of infection between animals, new species and humans,” said Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization (WHO) a conference on the subject. global health issues last month. “To do this, we must protect those at risk, those exposed. »

Bright has been among those who have long feared that the highly pathogenic virus could jump to human-to-human transmission, one reason he consistently pushed for more aggressive testing and reporting of cases as avian flu began to become widely known. reported throughout the world. American dairies and chicken farms.

Others are circumspect. “Right now, we certainly don’t have any evidence that the virus is getting hotter for humans,” the WHO’s Richard Webby, who studies infectious diseases at St. Mary’s Children’s Research Hospital, told Fortune. .Jude. “Fingers crossed (that this won’t be the case).”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com