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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared his administration is in "crisis mode" as a fast-moving avian flu outbreak continues to devastate the state's poultry industry, killing more than 7.6 million birds since the start of the year — more than half of all documented cases in the country.
Shapiro made the remarks on Tuesday (February 24) during a roundtable with farmers, biosecurity experts, and agricultural leaders at the PennAg Industries Rapid Response Center in Lancaster County, which has been hit hardest by the outbreak.
According to local reports, more than 26 flocks across the state have been affected, with the bulk of cases concentrated in Lancaster County — one of the most densely populated poultry regions in the country. State officials called it the worst avian flu outbreak the region has seen in decades.
"We are obviously in crisis mode when it comes to high-path avian influenza," Shapiro said. "My administration is working around the clock to expand our rapid response efforts and mitigate this surge. We are deploying more personnel, expanding our testing ability, and coordinating closely with the federal government and our industry partners to ensure we have our poultry farmers' backs every step of the way."
Russell Redding, Pennsylvania's secretary of agriculture, underscored the financial toll on producers. "When the virus hits, they suffer a tremendous financial blow overnight," Redding told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. "They are working round the clock under tremendous strain."
To help offset those losses, the Shapiro administration is deploying nearly $60 million through Pennsylvania's Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Recovery Fund — the only dedicated bird flu recovery program of its kind in the nation. The fund, established in 2022, helps poultry producers cover payroll, mortgages, and other expenses when forced to halt operations.
Lancaster farmer Mike Martz, whose flock was diagnosed with avian flu just before Christmas in 2023, said the fund "restored [his] faith in our state government." "I remember saying to my father, 'Dad, I think we're gonna be on our own for a few days because the government's not going to work during Christmas,'" Martz said. "Boy, was I wrong."
Still, some farmers want more. Scott Sechler of Bell and Evans farms, who has been attending meetings about avian flu since the last major outbreak in 1983, called for stronger biosecurity enforcement. "We're doing a terrible job at avoiding why we have this problem in the first place," Sechler said, pushing for mandatory pen cleanings and blood tests before any bird leaves a farm.
State veterinarian Alex Hamberg acknowledged that biosecurity improvements are needed, but noted that many current cases can be traced back to wild migratory birds infecting domestic flocks. Despite the scale of the outbreak, Hamberg said Pennsylvania residents are unlikely to see the kind of dramatic egg price spikes experienced in 2024 — as long as the outbreak remains localized within the state. With Easter and Passover approaching, officials say the country still has ample egg supplies.
As reported by WESA, more than 100 personnel are now assigned to the response effort, including state veterinarians, Penn State Extension specialists, and 42 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees. Shapiro said he personally requested two dozen bird flu specialists from USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins at a White House event last Friday (February 20), and those specialists are now working in Pennsylvania.
The state has also asked federal officials for "regulatory relief" — a measure that would allow more veterinarians to work alongside Hamberg to diagnose local flocks.
On the question of a vaccine, Shapiro said the Trump administration could potentially expedite development, but cautioned that a timeline remains uncertain. "This will take months, and months, and months to deploy, if at all, and it will likely be in the form of a pilot [program]," Shapiro said. University of Pennsylvania veterinary medicine dean Andrew Hoffman, who participated in the roundtable, said he is "a very strong advocate [for] building out a vaccine for the commercial poultry," adding that the risk of spread to humans is a concern that cannot be ignored.
Complicating vaccination efforts are trade dynamics: some European markets do not accept poultry products from vaccinated birds, which could affect Pennsylvania's export market.
The state's Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System has processed more than 672,000 avian flu tests over the past year, with 8,000 tests conducted in just the last six weeks. A new veterinary blood testing lab is also being established at Penn State's Beaver County campus in Monaca, funded by a $6 million allocation from the 2024–25 state budget, to improve surveillance capacity in western Pennsylvania.
State Rep. Emily Kinkead, Democratic vice chair of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee, urged all backyard chicken coop owners to register their flocks with the state so they can be alerted if infections are detected nearby. "They can't help people, they can't address issues if they don't actually know that your flock exists," Kinkead said.
As quarantines continue along the Route 283 corridor from Manheim to Lancaster city, state officials are urging all poultry producers to reinforce biosecurity protocols, limit farm access, and report unexplained illness immediately. Farmers under financial or emotional strain are also being encouraged to use the state's Farmer Mental Health Hotline.