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.

A Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with the first human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or H5N1, in Louisiana and the U.S. has died, the state's health department reported Monday. This marks the first human death related to bird flu in the U.S.

There is still a danger, however: a person in Louisiana recently became the first person in the country to die from H5N1. Louisiana health officials said the patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions. They contracted bird flu after exposure to a personal backyard flock and also wild birds.