Authorities in Plymouth, Massachusetts, informed the public over the weekend that more than 60 birds discovered deceased at Billington Sea are believed to have perished due to highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.
Clean Harbor waste management personnel, under contract with the state Department of Environmental Protection, along with state officials, arrived at Billington Sea on Sunday morning to retrieve multiple geese, swans, and other deceased wildlife from the area.
The previous day, a state ornithologist had informed local authorities that a deceased goose retrieved from Plymouth was strongly suspected of carrying avian influenza, or bird flu.
Since there is only one lab in the U.S. that can officially confirm a positive bird flu case, it could take up to a week for a definitive answer, officials said.
In fact, safety precautions continue to ramp up as cases of bird flu continue to surface across the U.S.
On Thursday, the CDC announced its recommendation to test hospitalized influenza A patients more quickly and thoroughly to distinguish between seasonal flu and bird flu.
The accelerated “subtyping” of flu A in hospitalized patients is in response to “sporadic human infections” of avian flu, the CDC wrote in a press release.
The goal is to prevent delays in identifying bird flu infections and promote better patient care, “timely infection control” and case investigation, the agency stated.
These delays are more likely to happen during the flu season due to high patient volumes, according to the CDC.
Fox News Digital’s Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.
