California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the outbreak of the virus, also known as Type A H5N1.

Federal health officials are calling for more testing and treatment of workers on farms with bird flu.

Online speculation about the origins of COVID-19 is soaring after a new report from the Energy Department concluding the coronavirus that caused the disease leaked from a China lab.

Is it safe to drink from a water fountain during the pandemic? But since the virus may linger on surfaces, experts say to avoid fountains if you can or to limit any direct contact when using them. In New York City, for example, posters instruct people to use gloves or a tissue to turn on water fountains. If you dont have those handy and need to touch the fountain, experts recommend you wash your hands afterward and avoid touching your face until you do. Filling a water bottle is also better than drinking directly from the fountain, says Angela Rasmussen, a virus researcher at Columbia University.

The disease, which researchers called the G4 virus, is genetically descended from the H1N1 swine flu that caused a pandemic in 2009. "Sure, this virus meets a lot of the basic criteria but it's not for sure going to cause a hypothetical 2020 flu pandemic, or even be a dominant strain in humans." Chinese researchers based at several institutions, including Shandong Agricultural University and the Chinese National Influenza Center, discovered the G4 virus during a pig surveillance program. Surveillance and discoveryIn 2009, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic killed an estimated 151,700 to 575,400 people globally. Swine flu occurs in people that are in contact with infected pigs.