It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC.

Good morning again, everyone.

We'll talk now about bird flu, very few human cases, but could it become a serious epidemic?

And we'll talk about COVID with the biggest

summer spike in years taking place right now. Since March, bird flu has been causing outbreaks

in dairy and poultry farms across the country with several recent human cases and farm workers.

There have been 13 human cases of bird flu documented in the U.S. this year.

All were from exposure to sick dairy cows or virus-infected poultry. The CDC says the current

public health risk is low, but some health officials are beginning to think about what another

pandemic could look like. Joining us now to talk more about bird flu,

also known as H5N1,

and also what to know and what to do about the latest COVID wave

is Amy Maxman, a Ph.D, and public health correspondent

and editor at KFF Health News.

Hi, Amy. Welcome to WNYC.

Hi, Brian. It's a pleasure to be here.

And listeners, we can open up the phones right away. How concerned are you about bird flu or about

COVID or the upcoming flu season this fall for that matter? Or if you have any questions,

for our guest, 212, 433, WNYC, 212, 433-962, call or text.

So what more can you tell us about how widespread bird flu is and why some scientists are wondering

if it could become much more widespread than people in direct contact with exposure to indirect, sorry, with direct exposure

to sick dairy cows or virus-infected poultry? Yeah, well, it's a big concern, actually,

...