When it comes to chickens, the Georgia Department of Agriculture takes its job seriously. That’s because the commercial poultry industry is one of the largest economic drivers of the state. More than 30 million birds go to the poultry market every week in Georgia. In fact, if the state were its own nation, it would be the 7th largest producer of poultry in the world.
Officials had this information in mind when Georgia’s first-ever case of avian influenza was found in March by the Georgia Poultry Lab during a routine pre-processing screening of a Chattooga County commercial laying facility. The discovery caused the Georgia Department of Agriculture to quickly set into motion an efficient response plan that had been in place since the agency first began hearing of the cases of high-path avian influenza that spread from Tennessee to northern Alabama.
“Being that it was the first one we ever did, we tried to handle it as quickly as we could and we didn’t spare anything,” said Gary Kelley, Georgia Department of Agriculture’s inspector general. “We didn’t take any chances.”
After the Georgia Poultry Lab detected the virus, the group notified the Department of Agriculture, who, according to protocol, notified the USDA to conduct further testing; however, with permission of the flock’s owners, the agency immediately began depopulating the 18,000 affected poultry.
While the difficult work of managing the affected chickens took place within a relatively small space, crucial mitigation efforts came about as a result of multi-agency cooperation and diligence: Georgia State Patrol established a quarantine to ensure no further spreading of AI; Georgia Forestry Commission established a decontamination line for all personnel and equipment heading in and out of the affected areas; the Environmental Protection Division identified a secure burial plot; the Georgia Department of Public Health monitored all personnel, farmers and surrounding civilians in case of illness; and GEMA/HS provided imagery using GIS and identified local contractors and vendors for supplies.
GEMA/HS’ involvement in the incident began early on, since the agency had previously worked with the Georgia Department of Agriculture on their own planning and preparedness efforts and their Incident Management Team. Clint Perkins, along with field coordinator Tim Reeves and State Operations Center director Lamar McEwen, worked to provide equipment for those on-site during the initial stages of the outbreak.
“It wasn’t very complex and in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t very much, but I guess the beauty of it was the GEMA/HS network added to the local communities so that we could respond quickly and take care of the incident,” said Perkins.
Overall, more than 98 personnel assisted in responding to the incident, which was handled seamlessly according to the industry’s standard phases of response: identify the virus, quarantine and isolate the virus, set up surveillance in the surrounding area, depopulate, dispose, and clean and disinfect. While the last stage typically takes the most time – about 21 days – the Department of Agriculture and its partners managed the initial stages over a 24-hour period. Costs were kept relatively low, Kelley said, because of the swiftness and collaborative planning from the agencies involved.
Response efforts were put into motion so quickly because incident leaders understood the potential for widespread impact. The virus, which can be spread quickly from birds like geese and ducks to poultry could have potentially crippled the economy in areas where the poultry industry is the main source of income.
“We want to grow the agricultural industry in the state of Georgia, but at the same time, do it in a manner that provides a safe product for the citizens of Georgia to consume,” said Kelley.
While the state’s response in diligently protecting Georgia proved successful, state agencies involved are looking to make improvements in case of future outbreaks. The Department of Agriculture has hosted meetings with state partners and poultry industry representatives in an effort to review the response, enhance preparations and assure Georgia’s response to future outbreaks is even more effective and efficient.
Kelley and the agency’s partners plan on using the incident as a learning experience to be explored in upcoming after-action meetings with major poultry companies, the USDA and more.
“The partnerships, the planning, the exercises and the training that we all did for years paid off,” said Kelley. “We’ve got great partners. That’s what we learned.”
Despite being charged with safeguarding one of Georgia’s most dominant economic ecosystems, the partnerships curated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture resulted in an exemplary emergency response and guarantee of protection of the poultry industry in the future.
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