When Idina Menzel sang “Let it Go,” she probably didn’t have Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in mind, but those lyrics are the essence of the Health and Human Services Secretary’s suggestion for dealing with the bird flu.

In the audio clip above, Johns Hopkins University researcher Erin Sorrell tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that after hearing of the Secretary’s suggestion, she and four other scientists composed a response, which was published in the July issue of the journal Science. Sorrell says the suggestion of letting the virus spread has no merit, and would be dangerous and unethical, potentially leading to transmission to other species, including humans, and threatening a pandemic. Instead, she says, “We really need to consider how we come together from a one-health perspective, that we incorporate human health, animal health, and environmental health to increase active surveillance, active detection. While cases have been decreasing as migratory birds are essentially out of North America right now, we have the time to regroup, restructure, and be ready for the fall migration.”

Yes, it’s possible we could have a fourth consecutive year of bird flu as the migratory birds–chief spreaders of the virus–return.

Below is the abstract of the article published in the July edition of the journal Science:

As of 20 May, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in more than 173.1 million birds since the outbreak began in January 2022. The secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., has suggested allowing the unmitigated spread of HPAI in turkeys and chickens to identify surviving birds—a sentiment supported by Brooke Rollins, secretary of the USDA, which, along with state-level departments of agriculture, has jurisdiction over animal disease outbreaks (1). This approach would be dangerous and unethical. Allowing a highly lethal, rapidly evolving, and contagious virus to run a natural course of infection in poultry would lead to unnecessary suffering of poultry and put other susceptible animals on and near affected farms at risk. It would prolong exposure for farmworkers, which could increase viral adaptation and transmission risks for poultry, other peridomestic animals, and humans.

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