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 risk to humans is low, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People infected by the virus usually experience mild symptoms. There is still a danger, however: a person in Louisiana recently became the first person in the country to die from H5N1.