Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week. And this week county fairs are on my mind… we are one week away from the beginning of the county fair here in northwestern Pennsylvania. I drive by the fairground every day — and the equipment for the rides has started to arrive and some of the food trucks/carts are on site.
Our county fair opens next Friday.
Other fairs are happening now or will occur throughout the next few months.
Our county fair is having in-person/on-site dairy cattle and goat judging. The poultry competition will be virtual — to prevent the spread of influenza.
We haven’t been in town for the county fair for a couple of years so our kids are making big plans for fair week. Our plans revolve around food — fried pickles, fried cookie dough, ice cream, and lemonade. We will also (probably) go to see the fireworks.
We will be avoiding the animal barns (more below).
My kids know I am (a little bit) worried about the fair and disease spread this year (more below). As we made our fair plans (and negotiated what was safe and healthy to do at the fair) during dinner the other night, my daughter sarcastically threatened to lick raw milk from the dairy cow pen or directly lick dairy cow utters — she knows how to get under my skin. She also understands how H5N1 influenza spreads. I’m proud that she knows so much and sick to my stomach at the thought of her licking anything at the fair.
As we head into the fair week, here are three things you need to know to stay safe and healthy as you visit your county fair.
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
What Do We Know?
Since March, H5N1 has infected (at least) 188 dairy cow herds in 13 states. Poultry and dairy workers have contracted H5N1. There has been no known spread of H5N1 from person to person.
Why Are We Concerned?
Since we have seen H5N1 spread when there is close contact between animals and humans, a lot of people (myself included) are worried about people — fairgoers —interacting with cows, pigs, and (possibly) chickens at county fairs. It is possible that H5N1 could spread from asymptotic animals to fairgoers. Dr. Andrew Bowman, a veterinarian from Ohio State University told CIDRAP News —
“What we do at fairs kind of violates every tenet of biosecurity that we preach (in public health), and we do it on public display…”
The nightmare situation is that someone at the fair becomes co-infected with COVID and H5N1 or two different strains of influenza. This would provide the perfect opportunity for H5N1 to evolve into a new strain that humans have little immunity to and could easily spread from person to person.
We are concerned about each new case of H5N1 because it is one more opportunity for the virus to evolve. It is one more host for the virus to sit in and learn from. Limiting the number of people with H5N1 is a priority.
If you go to the fair — What Should You Do?
If you plan to visit a county fair, please adhere to the following health guidelines —
Stay home if you are sick — if you have symptoms of any disease, stay home. Stop the chain of transmission by isolating at home. We do not want you to share your germs with other people or animals.
Wash your hands — wash your hands with soap and water, especially before you eat or after visiting with any animals. Take the time to find running water and use soap and water. Remember — antibacterial hand sanitizer may not effectively kill a virus, like H5N1, that you have on your hands.
Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth. Remember that viruses do not jump off of objects and into your body. You can move viruses into your body by rubbing your eyes, picking your nose, biting your fingernails, or putting dirty fingers into your mouth. Keep those hands away from your face!
Do NOT take any extra objects into the animal areas. Leave your food, toys, water bottles, or baby strollers out of the animal areas, especially the dairy cow barns. H5N1 spreads via droplets of raw milk. You do not want those droplets latching onto your stuff and being transported to other spaces. Leave your stuff outside of the animal areas.
Look with your eyes, not with your hands. Keep your hands off of the animals. And if you want a selfie with an animal, frame the animal in the background and you in the foreground. You do NOT need to snuggle with the swine or the dairy cows.
Here’s hoping we all have a safe and healthy fair week.
If you attend a county fair and then experience flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, pink eye, etc) in the week following the fair — please contact your healthcare provider. Be sure to tell them about your symptoms and your adventures at the fair.
Questions? Need to know more?
And if you are attending the Crawford County Fair — hope to see you there. I’ll be trying all of the food!
And please share this post with all of your friends and family who plan to attend a county fair in the coming weeks —
Epi(demiology) Matters is written by Dr. Becky Dawson, PhD MPH — an epidemiologist, teacher, mom, wife, and dedicated yogi. She is a tenured professor at Allegheny College, Research Director at a community hospital, and an exclusive contributor (all things health & medicine) at Erie News Now (NBC/CBS). Her goal is to create healthy communities for all. She writes Epi Matters — first & foremost because epidemiology does matter (to all of us) and she hopes that each post will help to educate and empower readers to be healthy and create healthy communities.
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Becky you have reminded me of fun days at the Crawford County Fair! I was born and raised in Erie and my family attended the fair. Cotton Candy was always my favorite! Have fun and yes, eat lots of food!
I enjoy your posts and you help me, a retired Public Health Nurse, keep up to date on current issues. Thank you!
Carolyn Rose
Park City, Utah