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Bird flu cases are on the rise across the country as wild flocks migrate south for the winter, mingling with domestic poultry farms and backyard birds as they go.

As of Nov. 7, bird flu has been confirmed in 67 flocks across the country in the last 30 days, leading to the deaths of 3.72 million birds across commercial and backyard flocks.

That’s a sharp rise from August, when just 60,000 birds were affected, according to USDA data.

The virus has ebbed and flowed since the USDA first confirmed the arrival of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial flock in February 2022.

However, this time around, we have less insight than before, thanks to staffing cuts at federal labs, rule changes that restrict who government scientists can communicate with and the ongoing federal government shutdown.