As bird flu continues to spread through California's cattle herds and poultry farms, staff at a key testing facility report being overwhelmed by mounting workloads and understaffing issues.
The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis, which leads the state's efforts to track and prevent avian influenza, faces internal challenges that workers say could impact their ability to effectively monitor the outbreak.
Current and former employees describe an exodus of workers due to management issues, leaving a reduced team struggling to handle the increasing volume of tests. The situation has raised concerns about the possibility of errors as remaining staff cope with excessive workloads.
Lab technician Alyssa Laxamana recently faced this reality when what was supposed to be a manageable day of testing 130 samples ballooned to over 270 as unexpected shipments arrived. "I can only do so much," she noted, forced to postpone additional samples.
The lab plays a critical role in California's response to H5N1 influenza, testing milk and dairy products from affected farms. However, workplace tensions over the past year have led to staffing shortages that threaten to bottleneck the state's surveillance efforts.
The mounting pressure on remaining employees comes at a particularly challenging time, as bird flu cases continue rising across California's agricultural operations. Staff report concerns that the combination of increased testing demands and reduced workforce could compromise the lab's mission to effectively monitor and contain the outbreak.
State officials have yet to comment on the workplace conditions at this key facility or announce plans to address the staffing challenges faced by the remaining laboratory workers.