With reports of the first human death from bird flu in the US, some Americans are feeling an uncomfortable flashback to the early days of Covid-19, when infectious disease experts were talking about a new virus that was sending people to the hospital with respiratory infections.

The widening U.S. bird flu outbreak has made its way to Maryland, which has counted two cases on commercial poultry farms — one in Caroline County and another in Queen Anne’s County — since the start of the year.

Current strains of bird flu are “poorly suited for pandemic potential,” said Dr. Shira Doron, a Tufts Medicine infectious disease expert.

A variant of the virus caused disease in people in 1997, when there was a small but deadly outbreak in Hong Kong. Eighteen people had confirmed diagnoses, and six of them died. Since then, there have been sporadic cases around the world—but no large outbreaks.

We last spoke in April, after a dairy worker became infected with bird flu. At the time, you described your level of concern about bird flu as “medium.” How would you describe your level of worry now?

Dr. Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist and professor at USF, joined FOX 35's Garrett Wymer on Florida Live to discuss the recent outbreaks of norovirus and bird flu, and takes a look at the level of concern we should have in regards to those becoming the next pandemic.