Day 4 of Idaho's dairy H5N1 surge produced no Sunday USDA expansion announcement, no APHIS press release, and no fresh quarantine map update. The outbreak remains the cattle-to-cattle epicenter; the institutional artifact is the lag. [1][2]

The paper moved this clock to Day Three and named the cumulative window — 41 outbreaks across 30 days — as the relevant frame. Sunday confirms it. Capital Press carries the additional Idaho herds; CIDRAP's surge framing remains current; AgProud's weekly digest treats the outbreak as ongoing herd management. None of those is the federal artifact public-health watchers need. [1][2][3]

The geography is what makes the lag operational. Idaho dairy country has cattle-trailer movement that crosses the Oregon and Washington lines daily, and the federal quarantine map's published boundaries do not yet reflect that movement pattern. ISDA and APHIS have the data; they have not converted it into a public artifact that aligns with the trade press's count. The result is a public map that lags the trade map by several days — long enough for an additional cattle movement cycle.

The next datapoint is not a new herd. It is whether USDA closes the lag before the gap becomes a known route.

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago