Orange County scores and player stats for Wednesday, Feb. 5

• February 6, 2025

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Wednesday, Feb. 5

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The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

WEDNESDAY’S SCORES

BOYS BASKETBALL

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

Laguna Beach 61, University 49

NONLEAGUE

Oxford Academy 44, Santiago 38

GIRLS BASKETBALL

FREELANCE LEAGUE

Acaciawood 31, Calvary Chapel/Downey 29

​ Orange County Register 

New report says more equity would mean more money in Orange County

• February 6, 2025

Equity – the controversial early frontrunner for “Word of the Year” – is about to play a starring role in a conference aimed at leveling the economic playing field in Orange County, an event titled “The Path Ahead: OC’s Roadmap to Equity.”

And while equity has become a trigger word for people of all political stripes – for some, “equity” can stand for “anti-White racism,” for others it means “hope for a just society” – the word has a third meaning that’s less rarely tossed around.

Ownership.

And that version of equity, the one about creating equal opportunities to earn and keep long-term wealth, could translate into huge gains for Orange County’s economy, according to people at the center of the Thursday, Feb. 6 conference at UC Irvine.

“When people hear ‘equity’ they think of fairness. And that’s certainly part of the definition. But part of having an equity perspective, economically speaking, is about whether everybody has an equal opportunity to thrive,” said Manuel Pastor, an economist who heads USC’s Equity Research Institute and who oversaw a report, “The Economic Benefits of Equity,” that will be made public at the conference.

“There’s significant research that suggests economies that are more unequal have more problems over time, that they can’t sustain growth,” Pastor added. “That perspective has become more common in the past 20 years or so, with research from a lot of people (such as the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Board) showing inequality is costly for any economy.”

How costly? The USC report, which tracks local economic and demographic shifts from the 1970s through 2022, offers specifics.

“Orange County’s economy could have been $97.4 billion stronger in 2022 if racial income gaps had been closed,” the authors wrote.

The USC report tracked local population shifts and economic history.

Broadly speaking, at the end of the 1970s, Orange County’s economy was slightly better than the nation in terms of income and home ownership. And, at that time, the county also looked a lot like the rest of the nation, with a population that was 78% non-Hispanic White.

Today, the county’s economy is usually ranked among the most robust in the country, with higher-than-average levels of both income and education. From 1979 through 2022, real gross domestic product in Orange County grew 238%, compared with 148% for the nation as a whole.

That county’s population also has shifted, becoming one of the nation’s most racially and ethnically diverse metro areas in the country. By 2022, White people accounted for 38.5% of the county’s overall population and Latino and Asian people combined to account for a 55.7% plurality. What’s more, about 1 in 3 Orange County residents was born outside the country, and roughly 1 in 7 are either undocumented themselves or live in families with at least one undocumented person, according to the report.

But if diversity and prosperity have grown in tandem, the report’s findings suggest that benefits haven’t been as equally felt.

For example, in 2022 the median household income in Orange County for a White family with a child 5 or younger was $150,000, far more than the median income for Black ($99,500) and Latino ($76,800) families with similarly aged children, according to the report.

“If the county achieved racial equity in incomes, people of color would see their average annual incomes increase by over $32,000 – a 67 percent gain,” the report found.

Pastor acknowledged that, as goals go, creating a race-blind economy is more idealistic than realistic. Everything from outlawed red-lining laws that once prevented Black and Jewish people from buying homes in many neighborhoods to current (and not racially controversial) tax rules about mortgage interest contribute to today’s wealth gaps. And issues that contribute to income inequality – racial bias, educational barriers and even environmental factors – can’t easily be waved away.

But the potential gains of fixing those issues, Pastor noted, would be felt by the broad economy, not just the people who historically were discriminated against.

“The efficiencies that could come with economic equity would help everyone,” he said.

Showdown? No, but…

The meeting at UCI is sponsored by Orange County Grantmakers, a nonprofit that helps connect some of the wealthiest people in the county – roughly 50 individuals and families who give $100,000 or more a year to local charities – to nonprofits that use the money. So some well-heeled members, or representatives from their charitable operations, figure to attend the conference.

It’s unclear how the national mood about equity will play out at the conference.

What is known is that the meeting is coming at a moment when equity – at least when the word is applied to the broad push for equality known as diversity, equity and inclusion – is facing a political reckoning of sorts.

President Donald Trump won the 2024 election after campaigning against DEI, among other things, describing it as everything from an anchor on the U.S. economy to a vehicle for reverse racism. Since starting his second term as president, on Jan. 20, Trump has signed executive orders to banish DEI from all levels of the federal government and U.S. military. He’s also linked DEI to what he termed ineffective efforts to fight the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County and as a potential secondary cause of a recent mid-air collision involving a passenger jet and a military helicopter in Washington, D.C.

That anti-DEI push has broadened beyond the beltway. McDonald’s, Walmart and Target are among the many companies that recently have ended or rolled back internal programs aimed at boosting racial and gender equity. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google would end hiring targets aimed at diversifying its workforce.

None of that played a role in the decision to hold a conference with the word “Equity” in its title and with equity, writ-large, as the goal.

“The fact that the report is coming out right now, and that we’re having our event right now, is serendipitous,” said Taryn Palumbo, executive director of Orange County Grantmakers.

“But it is a reminder that we’re working on the right things,” she added, laughing.

Grantmakers works directly with philanthropists, not nonprofits, and the members’ politics aren’t uniformly liberal or conservative. But Palumbo said she hasn’t heard any pushback from members because of the word equity or about the goals of getting money to fix problems outlined in the report.

Instead, she said, her members have expressed interest in diving into data about economic sectors that might benefit from equity-oriented philanthropy.

Housing costs, for example, have been a hot-button issue in the county for decades, in terms of rent and in home ownership. And the report, commissioned by Grantmakers, offers data on what that looks like in real life.

Overall, the county ranks 17th out of 150 metro areas in terms of the high number of people who are “rent burdened,” meaning they pay more than 30% of their income for housing. The report notes that Latino renters (59%) and Black renters (58%) are most likely to fall into that trap.

Palumbo said numbers like that are critical to housing and other areas tracked in the report, such as food insecurity, education and exposure to pollution.

“Obviously, a lot of these data points are extremely aspirational. It’s like saying ‘Zero homelessness, and housing for all!’ But the numbers let us see the connection between home ownership and generational wealth and equity,” Palumbo said.

“It’s not our responsibility to get complete racial equity,” she added. “But it is important to direct efforts toward that goal. We’ll highlight the existing collaborations that move us in that direction, toward equity.”

​ Orange County Register 

Vic Fangio remade Eagles’ defense, seeks elusive Super Bowl title

• February 6, 2025

By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer

NEW ORLEANS — Vic Fangio’s coaching career started in the 1970s as a high school assistant in Pennsylvania and has taken him across the country in various stops as he grew into one of the most innovative defensive coaches in the game.

Now at age 66, Fangio is at the Super Bowl in New Orleans, where he started his NFL coaching career, as defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles team he grew up supporting with a chance to fill one of the few remaining gaps on a stellar career.

“I grew up a Philadelphia sports fan,” Fangio said. “Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, started my pro career in Philadelphia with the USFL. And now I’ll probably end it here one of these years. It’s kind of come full circle. … I kind of fit there.”

Fangio has incorporated eight new starters into a defense that ranked near the bottom of the NFL in 2023 and turned it into one of the league’s best as the Eagles led the NFL in advanced efficiency metrics and allowed the second-fewest points in the league.

He is a major reason why the Eagles are in the Super Bowl, giving Fangio the success he couldn’t achieve in a failed head coaching stint in Denver and a chance to win his first Super Bowl in 38 seasons in the NFL.

“I still really like to do it. I think I’m still halfway decent at it,” he said. “It’s great. If you hang around long enough the tide will turn.”

Fangio began his NFL career coaching one of the top linebacking groups ever for New Orleans’ “Dome Patrol” teams in 1986 and got his first chance as defensive coordinator for expansion Carolina in 1995.

He has spent nearly all of his time since in the NFL, with a one-year break to go to Stanford, and his defensive style that disguises coverages and tries to keep two safeties as deep as possible to limit big plays has been mimicked throughout the league.

His only previous trip to the Super Bowl came in the 2012 season with the San Francisco 49ers, when he lost to the Baltimore Ravens here at the Superdome.

“When you talk about coaches, sometimes you’re like ‘He’s been a good coach for years.’ He’s very good coach for decades, which is impressive,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

“He’s had an unbelievable career and done so many good things and just so grateful that he’s on the staff. He has the standard of how it’s supposed to look and holds the guys to that standard. He’s not afraid to tell you what he thinks if you don’t meet the standard and praise you if you do meet the standards.”

Fangio has been integral in the defensive rebuild in Philadelphia. He saw enough in free agent Zack Baun to turn him from a special teams player who got limited time on defense as an outside rusher in New Orleans into an All-Pro inside linebacker and finalist for AP Defensive Player of the Year in Philadelphia.

He also helped incorporate two rookie starters in the secondary in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, which played a big part in the turnaround.

“He’s like a father figure,” Mitchell said. “He’s going to hold you accountable. He’s serious. But he’s got jokes too. He’s funny as well.”

But Fangio will face his toughest test on Sunday when the Eagles face Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

While much has been made out of Fangio’s 0-8 record against Mahomes as a head coach in Denver and a play-caller in Miami, he never had a defense as talented as this one when he faced him.

The record diminishes what Fangio did on defense as his teams scored just 11.9 points per game in those games. Fangio’s defenses allowed only 21.6 points per game to the Kansas City offense – the Chiefs got six additional TDs on defense and special teams – and Mahomes threw only 10 TD passes in the eight games and had a lower passer rating (95.9) and yards per attempt (7.3) than his career average.

“Every time I’ve played Coach Fangio, there’s been different changeups and different things he’s thrown at us,” Mahomes said. “That’s what makes him so great. He won’t do what he did the last time.”

Mahomes called games against Fangio a “chess match” and Fangio stressed the importance of changing up schemes because of Mahomes’ “elite” ability to understand what a defense is doing both before the snap and after.

“There is no secret. This is his seventh year as a starter. No one has gotten the formula to beat him,” Fangio said. “He’s won the chess match against me, the final score. We’ll see if there’s something we can come up with.”

​ Orange County Register 

USC coach Lincoln Riley, GM Chad Bowden tout ‘bright’ future with strong staff additions

• February 6, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Perhaps Lincoln Riley’s brisket, back on that one Easter in 2021, was in fact overcooked. Three years later, the world still doubts his ability to man a grill, since the then-Oklahoma head coach posted an innocent picture on Twitter that’s been maligned ever since.

The world, however, has not seen Riley’s ability to sizzle a Balsamic steak. Chad Bowden has.

“Our relationship’s been great,” Bowden said, USC’s new general manager speaking to reporters for the first time on Wednesday. “Again – anytime you have Balsamic steaks that are phenomenal, you know what I mean … you have a pretty good relationship.”

When Bowden left Indiana for Los Angeles, after his hire away from Notre Dame two weeks ago, he did not find a hotel. He did not find an Airbnb. He has been staying in Riley’s guesthouse – his casita, as Bowden put it – at the USC head coach’s home in Palos Verdes Estates. For a week and a half, the two most important men in USC’s future have bonded over family, and shared visions of grandeur to come. And shared steak.

“A lot of things that he talked about with me as to why he chose to come with USC, they aligned with how I felt,” Bowden said. “And all we want to do is win this thing. We want to win that moment, and we know what moment that is. And we talked about how we’re going to do it.”

That moment, simply, is a national championship. It was a dream Riley pointed to, three years ago, standing atop the Coliseum in his introduction to USC. It’s a dream that’s been clouded, for three years, by steadily declining on-paper results. It’s a dream, now, that looks more real for USC than at any point since the fall of 2023.

For years, USC needed to rebuild its defense; Riley and company overhauled their staff, and re-signed DC whiz D’Anton Lynn to a contract extension, and somehow plucked Rob Ryan from the NFL ranks as USC’s linebackers coach. USC has plainly needed to regain momentum in local recruiting; Riley hired Chad Savage on the offensive staff, an ace Southern California recruiter at Colorado State. USC has known, too, it needed to restructure its front office; in came Bowden and a slew of personnel hires this offseason, part of a modernized front-office approach.

“I think it shows that we’re not content with any part of this program being average, or even being good,” Riley said Wednesday. “Like, that’s not our mentality. Like, any part of this program we’re evaluating on – is it at a national championship level? If it’s not, is it trending that way quickly?”

“And if it’s not, we need to fix it.”

His praise of his newest GM on Wednesday, in what Riley deemed a “partnership,” showed a notable willingness to delegate in the process of fixing it. He and Athletic Director Jen Cohen hired Bowden away from a College Football Playoff finalist in Notre Dame, Bowden telling reporters that USC simply “meant more to me.” And Bowden pitched him during their initial conversation, Riley reflected, on simplifying his role – handling the day-to-day intricacies of roster construction and recruiting, allowing USC’s head coach and staff to focus simply on coaching.

And Bowden steps in at USC at a pivotal moment for college football, with the dawn of athletic department revenue sharing and the sport’s increasing shift to a professional model. On Wednesday, Riley said the USC administration had set some “very aggressive goals” in NIL fundraising, and Cohen has said that the university will invest the full permissible $20.5 million in revenue sharing with athletes come 2025-26, while maximizing investment in football.

When asked Wednesday if he felt he would have the resources he wants to build a roster at USC, Bowden leaned into a microphone with a slight grin.

“Yes,” he answered, matter-of-fact.

Those specific resources are still somewhat up in the air, as the Department of Education might rule that revenue sharing payments must be divided equally between male and female athletes under Title IX. If President Donald Trump’s administration is successful in slashing the Department of Education, though, USC will likely be free to distribute that $20.5 million as it sees fit – as ESPN reported many schools are preparing to follow a model that would dole out around 75% of revenue sharing payments to football players.

Assuming USC would follow a similar model (roughly $15 million to football through revenue sharing), and factoring in previous Southern California News Group reporting that NIL collective House of Victory’s budget has grown upward of $12 million, Bowden and USC’s front office would likely have at least $25 million at their disposal for the 2025-26 season.

Regardless of their roster cap specifics, Bowden and Riley were aligned in their messaging on Wednesday: USC had built a staff and a front office as strong as any program in the country, both asserted.

“We got really good frickin’ players … the future for USC is so incredibly bright,” Bowden said.

“We’re going to make sure,” he continued, “this place reaches its full potential.”

​ Orange County Register 

Bar Chelou in Pasadena has announced its closure after two years

• February 6, 2025

After two years of service, Pasadena’s beloved award-winning restaurant Bar Chelou, will close its doors on Sunday, Feb. 16.

“We are saddened to have to share some news with you,” said a post on the restaurant’s Instagram page. “After careful consideration, we have decided not to extend our lease, which is set to expire at the end of the month. The timing presented us with an opportunity to reconsider our path forward following the Eaton fire just a few miles from us in Altadena. Thus we have made the heart-wrenching decision to close our doors in Pasadena.”

“We are immensely grateful to our customers for their support over the past two years,” the post continued. “Stay tuned to our Insta for more exciting updates on Bar Chelou’s new permanent home later this year.”

Bar Chelou, located in Old Town Pasadena, is spearheaded by chef Doug Rankin who was mentored by chef Ludo Lefebvre. The restaurant opened in January 2023 and quickly found praise from the likes of the New York Times and other publications as one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles.

The menu at Bar Chelou featured dishes such as Clam Toast, Ibérico Pork Chop, Rainbow Trout, Pan de cristal and Lamb Legs. Patrons who frequented the restaurant said it was great for casual meetups and date nights and accessible for those interested in elevated dining. Some on Yelp likened the menu to New York City’s dining scene.

Pasadena residents and foodies from beyond fell in love with the mix of Spanish, Asian and French flavors offered at Bar Chelou. Some of the customer base were also devoted followers of Rankin. His previous Bar and Restaurant in Silver Lake had a similar concept but closed during the coronavirus pandemic, but he brought over some of his team when he opened Bar Chelou.

SEE ALSO: This modern bistro, next to the Pasadena Playhouse, is a culinary star

In an article with Eater, Rankin said that the restaurant’s business slowed in Pasadena after the Eaton Fire. Although the eatery and bar closed only for a couple of days after the devastating wildfires, he noticed the restaurant’s traffic was down, and because his lease was expiring this month, he decided to close the eatery.

Several patrons took to social media to voice their sorrow at hearing the news about the closure.

“This makes me so sad. I loved having such an amazing place around the corner,” an Instagram user replied to the post about the closure.

“Went there for the first time on Monday night and had the trout; it was outstanding. I’ve been thinking about the banana bar desert for the past couple of days, too. Such a bummer,” a Reddit user posted on r/FoodLos Angeles.

Rankin told Eater that he plans to move the restaurant to Denver, Co., but he isn’t opposed to returning to Los Angeles in the future.

​ Orange County Register 

USC names interim president, forms search committee for next campus leader

• February 6, 2025

The USC Board of Trustees has appointed Beong-Soo Kim, the university’s senior vice president and general counsel, to serve as the campus’ interim president following the departure of Carol Folt, it was announced today.

“During his time at USC, Beong has consistently shown his commitment to members of the Trojan Family,” USC Board of Trustees Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson and Vice Chair David C. Bohnett wrote in a message to the university community. “He has built strong relationships with deans, faculty and staff across USC and Keck Medicine, earning respect from everyone. He will work closely with our superb roster of academic leaders, including our provost, senior vice president for health affairs and academic deans, who will continue to sustain and elevate our academic, research and clinical excellence.”

Folt, who has led the university for about five years, announced in November that she will retire from the position at the end of the academic year on June 30.

Despite being named interim president, Kim will not be a candidate to become the university’s next full-time president, according to the university.

USC on Wednesday also announced the creation of a Presidential Search Committee, which will be co-chaired by Board of Trustees members and alumni Carmen Nava and Mark Stevens.

“In addition to their deep roots and commitment to USC, Carmen and Mark are established leaders in business and in the community, and their wisdom and judgment — along with their strong belief in the benefits of collaboration — will be tremendous resources throughout the search and recruitment process,” Nora Johnson and Bohnett wrote in their campus message.

The search committee will also include a “wide range of faculty, staff, student and alumni perspectives from across the Trojan Family.”

“As part of its advisory role, the committee will consolidate feedback from our community to define the characteristics we are seeking in our next president, and ultimately recommend a small number of highly qualified candidates to the Board of Trustees for interview and selection. They will work closely with Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the nation’s top leadership advisory and executive search firms, which has been retained to assist the committee in its search and recruitment efforts.”

The university created a website to provide updates on the search process at https://presidentialsearch.usc.edu.

​ Orange County Register 

Google scraps its diversity hiring goals as it complies with Trump’s new government contractor rules

• February 6, 2025

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is scrapping some of its diversity hiring targets, joining a lengthening list of U.S. companies that have abandoned or scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The move, which was outlined in an email sent to Google employees on Wednesday, came in the wake of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that was aimed in part at pressuring government contractors to scrap their DEI initiatives.

Like several other major tech companies, Google sells some of its technology and services to the federal government, including its rapidly growing cloud division that’s a key piece of its push into artificial technology.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, also signaled the shift in its annual 10-K report it filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In it, Google removed a line included in previous annual reports saying that it’s “committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve.”

Google generates most of Alphabet’s annual revenue of $350 billion and accounts for almost all of its worldwide workforce of 183,000.

“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there,” Google said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We’ve updated our 10-K language to reflect this, and as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic.”

The change in language also comes slightly more than two weeks after Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other prominent technology executives — including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg — stood behind Trump during his inauguration.

Meta jettisoned its DEI program last month, shortly before the inauguration, while Amazon halted some of its DEI programs in December following Trump’s election.

Many companies outside of the technology industry also have backed away from DEI. Those include Walt Disney Co., McDonald’s, Ford, Walmart, Target, Lowe’s and John Deere.

Trump’s recent executive order threatens to impose financial sanctions on federal contractors deemed to have “illegal” DEI programs. If the companies are found to be in violation, they could be subject to massive damages under the 1863 False Claims Act. That law states that contractors that make false claims to the government could be liable for three times the government’s damages.

The order also directed all federal agencies to choose the targets of up to nine investigations of publicly traded companies, large non-profits and other institutions with DEI policies that constitute “Illegal discrimination or preference.”

The challenge for companies is knowing which DEI policies the Trump administration may decide are “illegal.” Trump’s executive order seeks to “terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs” and other activities of the federal government, and to compel federal agencies “to , combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”

In both the public and private sector, diversity initiatives have covered a range of practices, from anti-discrimination training and conducting pay equity studies to making efforts to recruit more members of minority groups and women as employees.

Google, which is based in Mountain View, California, has tried to hire more people from underrepresented groups for more than a decade but stepped up those efforts in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis triggered an outcry for more social justice.

Shortly after Floyd died, Pichai set a goal to increase the representation of underrepresented groups in the Mountain View, California, company’s largely Asian and white leadership ranks by 30% by 2025. Google has made some headway since then, but the makeup of its leadership has not changed dramatically.

The representation of Black people in the company’s leadership ranks rose from 2.6% in 2020 to 5.1% last year, according to Google’s annual diversity report. For Hispanic people, the change was 3.7% to 4.3%. The share of women in leadership roles, meanwhile, increased from 26.7% in 2020 to 32.8% in 2024, according to the company’s report.

The numbers aren’t much different in Google’s overall workforce, with Black employees comprising just 5.7% and Latino employees 7.5%. Two-thirds of Google’s worldwide workforce is made up of men, according to the diversity report.

Associated Press business reporter Alexandra Olson contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Second type of bird flu detected in US dairy cows

• February 6, 2025

By JONEL ALECCIA, AP Health Writer

Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that’s different from the version that has spread in U.S. herds since last year, Agriculture Department officials said Wednesday.

The detection indicates that distinct forms of the virus known as Type A H5N1 have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises new questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them.

“I always thought one bird-to-cow transmission was a very rare event. Seems that may not be the case,” said Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus known as B3.13 was confirmed in March after being introduced to cattle in late 2023, scientists said. It has infected more than 950 herds in 16 states. The new version, known as D1.1, was confirmed in Nevada cattle on Friday, according to USDA. It was detected in milk collected as part of a surveillance program launched in December.

“Now we know why it’s really important to test and continue testing,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, who helped identify the first spillover.

The D1.1 version of the virus was the type linked to the first U.S. death tied to bird flu and a severe illness in Canada. A person in Louisiana died in January after developing severe respiratory symptoms following contact with wild and backyard birds. In British Columbia, a teen girl was hospitalized for months with a virus traced to poultry.

At least 67 people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu, mostly those who work closely with dairy or cattle, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

USDA officials said they would post genetic sequences and other information about the new form of the virus to a public repository later this week. Scientists said that would be key to understanding whether the spillover was a recent event or whether the virus has been circulating, perhaps widely, for longer.

“If this turns out to have been something that crossed into cattle a couple months ago, a couple months is a long time not to detect it,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has studied the H5N1 virus in cattle.

He added that it’s important for federal officials to share promptly information about a virus that has the potential to trigger a pandemic that could “make COVID seem like a walk in the park.”

“It’s a vital part of national security, global security, the well-being of people, of animals and of businesses in the U.S.,” Worobey added.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

​ Orange County Register