Lots of News About the Bird Flu; AI Employees Speak Out About Dangers–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: June 6, 2024

Indy Digest: June 6, 2024

We’ve all heard the cliche, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Well, there’s been a lot of smoke in the news lately about the bird flu (as was also mentioned in Monday’s Indy Digest).

As for the fire … that’s yet to be determined.

First, a necessary disclaimer: Virtually every news story about the bird flu makes it clear that H5N1 and H5N2 are not a threat to humans as of now. There’s nothing to be afraid of currently. Got that? Good.

Now, on to the stories. First up: An NBC News piece from earlier today is headlined “What to know about the first human case of H5N2 bird flu.” The details:

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization reported the first confirmed human case of the H5N2 type of bird flu in a 59-year-old man in Mexico who died in April.

The case adds to growing anxiety about the risk of bird flu spreading among people, especially because the man had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals, according to WHO.

The strain is different from the outbreak of bird flu virus, called H5N1, that is circulating among herds of dairy cows in the United States and has caused mild infection among three farm workers.

The story goes on to point out that the man was already ill, with a variety of underlying conditions, and that the WHO was unable to find any other cases in humans. Also: “Data shows that the H5N2 virus that infected the man is a low pathogenic virus, meaning it is unlikely to cause severe illness.” So, this was newsworthy because it was a first, not because it necessarily means anything. The piece says “the main question among experts is whether the H5N2 has mutated in some way that has made it easier to spread to humans.”

News story No. 2 is from The New York Times—and it definitely has a more ominous tone. The headline is “The Bird Flu Virus Adapted to Sea Mammals. It May Not Be Done Yet.” The story says:

Elephant seals in South America died in massive numbers because the bird flu virus acquired mutations that allowed it to spread among mammals, according to a new study.

The research offers the first genetic and epidemiological evidence of bird flu virus transmission among mammals. And the findings hold a warning: The virus, called H5N1, may similarly transform to cause large-scale infections in other mammalian species, including people.

The bird flu virus is responsible for an ongoing outbreak in dairy cows in the United States. Since March, it has been detected in cows in 11 states, and in wastewater from several others.

The virus may already be spreading from cow to cow, too, but federal officials have said that the more likely explanation for the outbreak is that it is spreading through contaminated milk.

While this piece definitely is more alarming, it still ends with a scientist saying that not all mammals are the same, and that what happened “(does) not necessarily portend transmission among people.”

The final news story we’ll cover today is from medical/health publication Stat, headlined “Finland to offer bird flu vaccine to select groups of people, a possible global first.” Some details:

Finland is preparing to offer vaccines to people at risk of exposure to an avian influenza strain spreading among farmed and wild animals, health officials there said, potentially becoming the first country to take such a step as concerns about the threat the virus poses to people intensify.

The vaccine campaign will be limited, with doses set to be available to groups including poultry farmers, veterinarians, scientists who study the virus, and people who work on fur farms housing animals like mink and fox and where there have been outbreaks. …

The decision to start providing vaccines reflects fears that people in close contact with infected animals could contract the H5N1 virus themselves. The virus is, for now, not particularly adept at infecting humans or, more importantly, spreading among them. But scientists worry that as the virus infects more mammalian species, and if it encounters more human cells, then the higher the chances are that it evolves to become more of a threat to people.

For me, the key take-away from this story—as well as a story we linked to on Monday reporting that the U.S. is also getting some vaccine doses ready, just in case—is this: While the bird flu is scary, we already have a vaccine for it, if it’s needed.

The other take-away: This level of coverage, awareness and preparation shows that perhaps we did learn a thing or two from SARS-CoV-2—and that if one of these bird-flu strains becomes a problem, we’ll collectively be a lot more prepared than we were when the coronavirus emerged as a problem in early 2020.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• The New York Times yesterday published a big story about Israel’s efforts to influence opinions in the United States: “Israel organized and paid for an influence campaign last year targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging, as it aimed to foster support for its actions in the war in Gaza, according to officials involved in the effort and documents related to the operation. The covert campaign was commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a government body that connects Jews around the world with the State of Israel, four Israeli officials said. The ministry allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out, according to the officials and the documents. The campaign began in October and remains active on the platform X. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans on X, Facebook and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments. The accounts focused on U.S. lawmakers, particularly ones who are Black and Democrats, such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader from New York, and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, with posts urging them to continue funding Israel’s military. ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, was used to generate many of the posts. The campaign also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles.”

• The Time magazine headline is: “Employees Say OpenAI and Google DeepMind Are Hiding Dangers From the Public.” Eek! More details: “The coalition cautions that AI systems are powerful enough to pose serious harms without proper regulation. ‘These risks range from the further entrenchment of existing inequalities, to manipulation and misinformation, to the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction,’ the letter says. … The group behind the letter alleges that AI companies have information about the risks of the AI technology they are working on, but because they aren’t required to disclose much with governments, the real capabilities of their systems remain a secret.” I repeat: Eek!

• Today’s recall news involves … rechargeable lights! The Associated Press says: “According to a Thursday notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Good Earth Lighting’s now-recalled integrated light bars have batteries that can overheat—and cause the unit to catch on fire. That can pose serious burn and smoke-inhalation risks. To date, the CPSC notes that there’s been one report of a consumer who died and another who was treated for smoke inhalation when the light caused a fire in their home last year. Good Earth Lighting is aware of nine additional reports of these products overheating, the CPSC added, six of which resulted in fires and property damage. … According to the CPSC, some 1.2 million of these lights were sold at hardware and home improvement stores—including Lowe’s, Ace Hardware and Meijer—as well as online at Amazon, GoodEarthLighting.com and more between October 2017 and January 2024 in the U.S.“

• And … Toyotas! The Washington Post reports: “Toyota will recall roughly 102,000 vehicles over concerns that stray debris in the engine can lead to a stall and loss of drive power, federal regulators said. The recall will include about 3,500 Lexus LX 600 SUVs with the model years 2022 or 2023, and 98,600 Toyota Tundra pickups from the same time period, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency warned that those vehicles’ V35A engines produced during that time period at certain factories may not have had machining debris cleared during assembly.”

• Speaking of The Washington Post … it’s a bit of a mess there right now. The New York Times says: “Will Lewis, the chief executive of The Washington Post, repeatedly offered an exclusive interview to an NPR reporter if the reporter agreed not to write about allegations against Mr. Lewis in a phone-hacking scandal in Britain, according to an account by that reporter published on Thursday. David Folkenflik, a veteran media reporter for NPR, wrote that a spokesperson for Mr. Lewis confirmed the offer in December. … On Sunday, Mr. Lewis announced that Sally Buzbee had resigned as executive editor and that Matt Murray, a former top editor at The Wall Street Journal, would be her temporary replacement. After the presidential election, Robert Winnett, a British editor, will oversee the core news operation and Mr. Murray will manage a new division focused on social media and service journalism. Mr. Lewis, who was named chief executive of The Post late last year, is accused in court filings of helping to cover up illegal phone hacking at British publications owned by Rupert Murdoch more than a decade ago. In May, in a case brought by Prince Harry and others, a judge ruled that the plaintiffs could add Mr. Lewis’s name to a list of executives they argued were involved in a plan to conceal evidence of hacking at the newspapers. Mr. Lewis has strongly denied any wrongdoing in that case. Though he is named in the lawsuit, he is not a defendant.”

• The Los Angeles Times published an insane story about a British man, Nicholas Jarzabek, who allegedly rented a Los Angeles home—and made hundreds of thousands of dollars by turning the home into an illegal Airbnb: “The host used two strategies to keep the Airbnb listings hidden from (owner Nikeeta) Sriram. First, they never included photos of the home’s exterior. According to the lawsuit, each one showed a picture of the Grove shopping center followed by photos of the interiors, which are harder to identify. The listing also provided a false address. … Then, once the house was booked, Jacobs messaged guests telling them the actual address, according to Airbnb reviews of the listing. The strategy concealed Sriram’s actual address and allowed Jacobs to avoid posting a registration number, which is typically required for Airbnb listings in L.A., but not for hotels or motels. Photos filed in court by Sriram show that the listing claims it’s exempt from displaying a registration number because it’s a hotel or motel, despite it clearly being marketed as a home. The listing for the larger home had an average rating of 4.76 stars out of 5, and the smaller home averaged 4.46 stars—not terrible marks, but reviews included in the court filings hinted at something shady. … When Sriram confronted Jarzabek over the phone, he said to contact his lawyer.” This excerpt doesn’t do the story justice; I recommend reading it.

• And finally … Costco is making a change that marks the end of an era. The New York Times reports: “Beginning in January 2025, the company will stop stocking books regularly, and will instead sell them only during the holiday shopping period, from September through December. During the rest of the year, some books may be sold at Costco stores from time to time, but not in a consistent manner, according to the executives, who spoke anonymously in order to discuss a confidential business matter that has not yet been publicly announced. Costco’s shift away from books came largely because of the labor required to stock books, the executives said. Copies have to be laid out by hand, rather than just rolled out on a pallet as other products often are at Costco. The constant turnaround of books—new ones come out every Tuesday and the ones that have not sold need to be returned—also created more work.”

Support the Independent!

Stay cool out there, folks! If you have the means, please consider clicking the button below and becoming a Supporter of the Independent. We depend on reader support to keep publishing—without cutbacks—during these hot, slower-business summer months. As always, thanks for reading!