CDC Ends Emergency Response to H5N1 Bird Flu Outbreak as Surveillance Scales Down
In June 2026, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deactivated its emergency response to the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, ending a high-priority public health activation that had been in place since the virus began spreading in dairy cattle in early 2024. The CDC cited a steady decline in new dairy herd infections, stable wastewater surveillance trends, and the lack of any evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
However, despite the deactivation of the federal emergency response, local outbreaks continue to emerge1 in critical transmission nodes, particularly urban live bird markets (LBMs) in the Northeast. In mid-June 2026, the USDA and state health departments confirmed new H5N1 outbreaks at live bird markets in Passaic, New Jersey, and Providence, Rhode Island:
- Providence, Rhode Island: During a routine quarterly USDA inspection on June 13, 2026, asymptomatic poultry (including chickens and ducks) at Antonelli Poultry tested positive for H5N1. The birds had been imported from out-of-state dealers. State Veterinarian Scott Marshall oversaw the humane euthanasia of approximately 445 birds, and the market was temporarily closed.2 The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) is actively monitoring staff for symptoms and has advised consumers who purchased poultry killed and dressed at the market between June 9 and June 12 to discard it.
- Passaic, New Jersey: The USDA confirmed an H5N1 outbreak at a live bird market in Passaic. Notably, Passaic was identified as one of only three wastewater monitoring sites in the entire United States reporting HPAI H5 positives in recent CDC wastewater reports, demonstrating a direct correlation between local market outbreaks and environmental viral shedding.
These detections represent the 20th live bird market outbreak in the United States in 2026 alone (and the 77th since the current panzootic wave began in 2022). While federal agencies continue to reassure the public that the overall risk to humans remains low, epidemiologists warn that live bird markets—which house diverse bird species in cramped, high-density quarters—remain prime environments for intense bird-to-human transmission and potential viral reassortment.
"The infected birds, which included live chickens and ducks, did not come from Rhode Island farms. They were from out-of-state dealers... Because staff at Antonelli Poultry may have been exposed to avian influenza, and out of an abundance of caution, RIDOH is monitoring all staff for 10 days for symptoms of avian influenza. The overall risk of humans getting H5N1 remains low." — Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Press Release
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An instance of Sovereign biosecurity defunding forces local states and global coalitions to bankroll pathogen containment. — The rollback of the CDC's active emergency response shifts the burden of H5N1 containment entirely onto state health departments and local veterinarians. ↩︎
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An instance of Uncontained biosecurity threats inevitably force local jurisdictions to run their own quarantine networks. — Even as federal entities deactivate emergency actions, local authorities must conduct independent surveillance and bird quarantines to contain outbreaks. ↩︎