Bird flu spreads to Southern California, infecting chickens, wild birds and other animals.
Los Angeles County now has more dead migratory birds than any other in the country.
The last time there were so many birds slaughtered in Southern California was for a pheasant that went to Vegas last year.
(Published Friday, Dec. 11, 2020)
The world’s most-known endangered bird, the black-footed ferret, has become the symbol of the outbreak of coronavirus in humans.
The virus, officially named 2019-nCoV in the U.S., is highly contagious and kills more humans than any other virus on Earth.
On Friday, a new report said as many as 100 birds are being killed each day by the virus.
As of Saturday, there were at least 1,000 dead birds in Southern California, and officials said that number continued to climb. In Los Angeles County, there were at least 200 dead birds in five days.
California officials also confirmed that the number of dead birds at the San Gabriel Zoo reached 10,000.
And a new study reports that there are now as many coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County as there are human beings.
The only other place to see more coronavirus cases than Americans is China.
It’s believed that there are at least 2,000 cases in China’s city of Wuhan alone.
The virus was first found in December in the city of Wuhan, the Chinese center of a burgeoning outbreak.
(Published Friday, Dec. 11, 2020)
Los Angeles County health officials confirmed three additional deaths related to coronavirus Friday, bringing the total number of deaths in the county to 13 for the week of December 2.
That brings the county’s total deaths for the year to at least 439, and hundreds of people are still hospitalized and in quarantine.
“There are still many more victims in California and in the Los Angeles area,” said county public health officer Mónica Scoggins on Friday. “But it’s a tremendous step forward.”